


Here We Go Again

by TheSnarkyDruid



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Webcams, video blog style
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-16 01:18:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 35
Words: 83,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3469046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSnarkyDruid/pseuds/TheSnarkyDruid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Laura and the gang return to Silas, Laura is hoping for a nice normal semester. But of course, this is Silas University and life has other plans. With a new and terrifying Dean, forest spirits going to war with the Zetas, and a string of murders in their very dorm, Laura, Carmilla, LaFontaine, Perry, Danny, Kirsch, and others are dragged into the craziness once again. Hopefully, they all make it out alive. Cause Laura just really wants to spend some alone time with her girlfriend. </p>
<p>Written in a video blog style, like on the show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome Back

1/4/15

The camera flicks on and Laura is seen sitting at her desk, a partially unpacked bag on her bed, and a smile on her face. Carmilla’s side is mostly empty.   
“So, hey everybody, welcome back to Silas university. Hopefully we’re in for a semester of normal classes and normal college life as opposed to…whatever you call last semester. I’ve just come back from winter break which was good.” Laura turns her chair toward Carmilla’s side of the room, “As you can see Carmilla isn’t here yet. Not sure when she’ll be here actually.” Laura turns back to the camera, “It kind of sucked that I had to go home so soon after we, you know, got together. We didn’t really get that much alone time before my Dad came to pick me up and then when I got home well, my Dad put me on lockdown as usual. Although we did communicate via phone calls and texting and of course Carmilla snuck in whenever she could, which was most nights. As much as my Dad safety proofs and protects the house, he isn’t really prepared for a vampire. So we did spend a lot of time together over break, but it’ll be nice to have the room to ourselves without having to worry about my Dad.”  
A moment later the door opens and LaFontaine and Perry walk in.   
LaFontaine grins, “Hey Laura!”   
Perry smiles and gives a small wave, “Welcome back! I made brownies.” She holds out a tray.   
Laura leaps from her seat to hug the both of them.  
“Hey guys!” She says and then releases them from the hug. She then snags one of Perry’s brownies with a quick thank you.   
“Ready for another semester at Silas?” LaFontaine asks, plopping down on Laura’s bed.  
“I’m ready for a normal college experience.” Laura says, sitting back down at the computer desk.  
Perry nods, “Yes, nice and normal, that’ll be good.  
LaFontaine raises an eyebrow and says, “You’re dating a vampire. How is that normal?”   
Laura shrugs, “Okay, you have a point, but besides that one small thing, it’d be nice just to be able to worry about classes and parties and normal collegy things.”  
LaFontaine looks over to see Carmilla isn’t there yet, “Speaking of, where is our resident mistress of the night? Don’t tell me you two…”   
“No, we’re still together. She’s just not here yet. You know Carmilla, she comes when she wants to.” Laura says.  
“Does she now?” LaFontaine asks with a quirk of an eyebrow and a grin.  
Laura looks confused and then suddenly mortified.  
LaFontaine laughs and gets a slap on the shoulder from Perry, “Oh LaFontaine.”  
They hear a hesitant knock on the door and then the door opens to reveal Danny standing on the other side. She seems somewhat uncertain, but Laura gives her a wide smile and races over to give her a short, but warm hug.   
“Hey.” Laura says once they separate.  
“Hey.” Danny says with a smile back.   
Laura then drags her into the room and she sits down on Laura’s bed also.   
“So…how was your break?” Danny asks.  
“Good, good. And you?” Laura asks.   
“Good.” Danny replies and looks to see that Carmilla isn’t there, her eyes turn hopeful for a moment, before she attempts to quash that feeling, “So where’s Carmilla?”  
“Not here yet. She says she’ll be here before classes start, but I’m not sure that’s true. Although when you’re a three hundred year old vampire, I’m not sure there’s a lot you can learn from intro classes.” Laura says with a shrug.   
“And you two are…” Danny trails off and Laura looks at her awkwardly.  
“Uh, yeah, we’re good.” Laura says.   
“Good.” Danny says, “I’m glad.” And she’s surprised that she really is glad.   
LaFontaine and Perry just stare at the awkward pair for a few moments before LaFontaine says, “So, what’d you guys think? Movie night? It’s the first and probably last calm night we’ll have all semester.”  
“Don’t even tease.” Laura says and then adds, “But yeah, sure. What’d you want to watch?”  
“Underworld?” LaFontaine suggests with a smirk which gets a bunch of boos from everyone, “Alright fine, I’m open to suggestions.”  
They spent the next several minutes arguing over what to watch, but they all eventually agreed upon The Avengers. They grab snacks and drinks and settle down onto the bed, moving Laura’s bag off and onto the floor. After watching The Avengers, they end up watching The Breakfast Club, The Hunger Games, and begin to fall asleep in the middle of Underworld. After the movie is over, they wake up enough to file out and leave Laura to fall asleep in her bed. Danny tucks her in.   
A half an hour later there is a dark puff of smoke and then Carmilla appears in the room. Laura is passed out cold though and doesn’t wake. Carmilla smiles at her and whispers, “Oh Cupcake, you are just too adorable.” She then lies down on the bed next to her and snuggles in close. 

 

1/5/15  
Laura wakes up to find Carmilla sleeping next to her. She smiles and then attempts to get up and around her girlfriend without waking her. It doesn’t work. She manages to somehow hook her foot in the comforter and when stepping off the bed trips and falls into a heap on the floor with a loud thud. The thud wakes Carmilla who sits bolt upright, expecting some sort of attack or something, especially when she realizes Laura isn’t next to her. She then spies Laura on the floor, face down into the carpeting, half her body still on the bed with her foot tangled in the comforter and she begins to laugh.  
Laura turns to shoot her a glare and then says, “When you’re done, do you think maybe you could help me?”  
Carmilla continues to laugh, but gets up off the bed and helps Laura to her feet.  
“Oh Buttercup, what would you do if I wasn’t around.” Carmilla says as she lifts Laura up, pulling them chest to chest once she’s standing.   
Laura just smiles as she’s mesmerized by her girlfriend’s beauty.   
She then finally says, “It’s good to see you.”  
“It’s good to see you too, Cutie.” Carmilla says with a grin and begins to dance with Laura in the middle of the room.  
“When did you get in?” Laura asks as Carmilla twirls her around.   
“Late.” Carmilla says and Laura rolls her eyes at the answer.  
“You could have woken me.” Laura says as they continue to dance.  
“But you looked so peaceful sleeping, I couldn’t do that to you.” Carmilla says, “Besides, we’ve got some time now. And this room all to ourselves.” She gives Laura a seductive smile.  
Laura looks at her longingly and then her eyes widen, “Wait! Crap! What time is it?” She then lunges for her phone on the desk, pulling away from Carmilla who scowls. She looks at the time and sighs with relief, “Oh good, it’s only eight. My first class isn’t until 10:30.”  
“Eight o’clock is far too early to be awake.” Carmilla adds with a frown.  
“We could sleep for another couple of hours until my class.” Laura offers.  
Carmilla thinks for a moment and then smiles widely, “Or, I have something else we can do.” She then rushes forward and sweeps Laura off her feet. They kiss passionately and Carmilla begins to walk towards Laura’s bed.  
Laura pulls away for a moment, “Wait.” Carmilla kisses her and Laura pulls away again, “Carm…” Carmilla cuts her off as she kisses her once more and Laura pulls away, “Camera. The Camera.” Carmilla pauses and turns towards the computer. She frowns.  
“You’re filming again?” She asks.  
“Yes, of course.” Laura says.  
Carmilla rolls her eyes, but then gently places Laura down on the bed. She then walked over to the camera, gives a wink, and the video turns off.

End of video


	2. New Dean

1/5/15  
The camera flicks on and Laura is sitting there smiling at the camera. Carmilla doesn’t appear to be in the room.  
“Hello everyone. First day of classes went well I think. I had my journalism ethics course and my art class today. My journalism ethics professor, Professor Madison is very…enthusiastic. He leapt up on his desk at least three times today talking about vigilance and protecting your sources and a bunch of other stuff that he apparently feels very passionate about. And my art professor, Professor Okoro, she’s very chill, very laid back. She talks in this light, airy voice that kind of put me in this dream like state for a while. I saw lots of colors, lots of random shapes. Hmm, I wonder if there was something in those paints she had us working with? Anyway, I have my visual journalism and my lit class tomorrow. Guess who my TA is again.” She sighs, “I just wish things were less awkward between us. We’re better, but…it’s not the same. Anyway, my chemistry lab class doesn’t start for two weeks. Now you may be wondering why a journalism major is taking a chemistry course, well that’s because Silas is a liberal arts school, meaning I am required to take a lab class and LaFontaine suggested intro to chemistry so that we can take it together. But anyway, overall, normal day as things go here at Silas.”  
A loud rumbling siren begins to echo through the building and across the campus indicating a town hall meeting. Laura looks at the camera and groans, tilting her head back in an exasperated manner.  
“Aw crap!” She says and gets up as she hears Perry shouting in the hallways about a town hall meeting, “Not this again.” She quickly exits the room to go to the meeting.

Cut to after the meeting

Later the video shows Laura sitting at her desk, with Carmilla lounging on her own bed, and LaFontaine and Perry sitting on Laura’s bed.  
“So we have a new Dean.” Laura says.  
“I suppose it was inevitable.” LaFontaine adds.  
Laura nods, “And he’s…”  
“Terrifying?” LaFontaine offers.  
“I was going to go with intimidating, but yeah, terrifying works.” Laura replies.  
“He’s tall and thin and looks like he could be the devil himself.” LaFontaine says.  
“LaFontaine, he’s not the devil.” Perry says and then thinks about it, “Or…well I hope he isn’t.”  
“You and me both.” Laura says.  
“And why is he wearing sunglasses inside?” LaFontaine asks, “Who does that?”  
“Vampires.” Carmilla says and they all look at her, “And douchbags.”  
“You don’t think he’s…?” Laura asks, trailing off.  
Carmilla smirks, “A douchbag? Probably.”  
Laura laughs, “No, I meant a vampire.”  
Carmilla smiles at her and says, “I know what you meant, cutie. And he’s not a vampire. I would be able to tell.”  
Laura lets out a sigh of relief, “Well that’s something I guess.”  
“Wait can you sense other supernatural creatures?” Perry asks.  
Carmilla shrugs, “Sometimes. Not always. But vampires definitely.”  
Laura turns back to the camera and begins speaking again, “So the alarm goes off as you all heard, signaling a town meeting. So then we all file in and the new Dean walks up. Like I said, tall, thin, wearing a form fitting black suit and red tie. Sunglasses inside. If he strolled up clutching a pitchfork, well I wouldn’t have been all that surprised.”  
“And he has these goons, these big burly guys that follow him around, also wearing sunglasses might I add.” Lafontaine says, “And apparently they’re the new campus security or whatever.”  
“Well I know I definitely feel more secure with those gentlemen around.” Carmilla says sarcastically.  
“Yeah, and I mean his address to the school wasn’t too out of the ordinary. He was just talked about how he was replacing the old Dean and he talked about how unfortunate a loss it was and it was all very clinical and prepared.” Laura says, “And then he just left and we came back here. So on a scale of Silas weirdness, it was probably a four, maybe a five.”  
“Creepiness is not an indication of supernatural ability…or sinister plots.” Perry says, “For all we know he could be regular person.”  
They all give her an incredulous look.  
“I can hope can’t I?” Perry asks and sighs and then looks around at the mess the room is already in, “You haven’t been here for two days and this place already looks like a tornado hit. How does that even happen?” She gets up to begin cleaning and Laura shoots a look to Carmilla who just shrugs.  
“So long story short, we have a creepy new…” Laura begins, but is interrupted by a knock on the door and then Kirsch and two other Zetas burst into the room, each holding a tray of cupcakes.  
“Hey hotties! Welcome back to Silas U!” Kirsch says with a huge grin on his face. Laura hears Carmilla groan.  
“Kirsch, what did I say?” Laura asks.  
“I mean, Laura. Laura welcome back!” Kirsch says grinning and Laura smiles as she gets up and gives him a hug.  
“Thanks Kirsch.” Laura says as she releases him and then spies the two other Zetas, she shoots Kirsch a questioning look.  
“Oh hey, yeah, this is Phil.” Kirsch says indicating the Zeta to his right, “And this is Nate.” He says indicating the Zeta to his left, “They’re new recruits.”  
“Sup.” Phil says and Nate just waves.  
“Hi.” Laura says a bit awkwardly and then turns back to Kirsch, “What’s with the cupcakes….and are they up for grabs?”  
Kirsch smiles and nods, “Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I was doing this better in the other rooms, but I got excited to see you.” He hears a growl from Carmilla, “But not in like a sexual way or anything.” Another growl and he quickly changes the subject, “Uh…but yeah, the Zetas are having a party next Friday at our place, a sort of welcome back to Silas bash. And we’re handing out cupcakes as we go, you know to entice people to come. Not that we’re not enticement enough.” He smirks as he says that last part and everyone in the room groans.  
“Cool, that’s cool.” Laura says and snags a cupcake. LaFontaine bounds forward to grab one as well. He holds out the tray to Perry who shakes her head as she flits about the room picking up laundry. He then holds it out to Carmilla who scowls at him and he just backs away slowly.  
“So yeah, you guys coming?” Kirsch asks.  
Laura shrugs, “I don’t know Kirsch, maybe?”  
Kirsch smiles, “Awesome, well I hope to see all of you there. See you later hotti…I mean ladies.” He then swaggers his way out of the room, the other two Zetas behind him.  
“So Kirsch is as Kirschy as ever.” Laura says with a small laugh as she begins to munch on her cupcake.  
“Did you really want to go to that party, Creampuff?” Carmilla asks Laura.  
Laura shrugs, “I don’t know.” She says around a mouthful of cupcake, “It could be fun.” She turns to LaFontaine and Perry, “What do you guys think?”  
“Could be fun.” LaFontaine says with a shrug, “We should go to something before classes begin to kick us in the ass.”  
Perry nods, “Yes, it could be a good time.”  
Laura then looks back at Carmilla who just rolls her eyes and groans, “Don’t expect me to be nice to those Neanderthals.”  
Laura cheers and hugs Carmilla, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

End of video


	3. As normal as it gets here

1/11/15  
“Hello everyone!” Laura says with a false cheerfulness and Carmilla just grunts in the background where she is sprawled across her bed, reading a book, “It’s another fine day at Silas University, where the weird and bizarre congregate.” Her smiles fades and she grows more serious, “And people here are still seriously weird, even after we defeated Carmilla’s mother and the giant angler fish of doom.”  
“Did you really expect things to go back to normal?” Carmilla asks, not looking up from her book.  
“Well, I was hoping that since the Lophiliformes had been doing nasty brain things to people for…I don’t know, however long this school has been open, that maybe once it was dead, like officially dead, that people would realize all the weird stuff that goes on around here.” Laura says, “And it would stop.”  
“Cupcake, your optimism is adorable, it really is.” Carmilla says with a smirk and Laura rolls her eyes, “But honey, just because people realize that there are weird things going on, doesn’t mean they’re going to stop them. Half this campus is probably one supernatural creature or another.”  
“That isn’t comforting.” Laura says, “Although, I suppose I shouldn’t judge with you being a vampire and all.”  
“There you go.” Carmilla says.  
Laura turns back to the camera, “For any of you who are supernatural beings or well…not human, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to offend anyone. But if you want me to join your club, you probably should get rid of any contract that requires me to sign over part of my soul or requires a kidney. I’m looking at you Cry Wolf Magazine and the pre-law club Devil’s Advocates.”  
“They were standard contracts here at Silas.” Carmilla replies with a smirk, “Nothing out of the norm there.”  
“Excuse me if I don’t want part of my soul being owned by some campus club that laughed when I asked if I’d have to do anything unsavory.” Laura says, “Other colleges don’t have clubs that require souls, I don’t think this one should either, even if we do have a large supernatural being population.”  
“Well, things aren’t going to change overnight, Cutie. Give it some time.” Carmilla says and then looks up from her book to see Laura pouting. She shakes her head with a smile and then languidly gets up from the bed and saunters over to Laura. She places her hands on her shoulders and says, “Moon pie, you’ve already done a lot to make this campus a safer place. Give yourself some credit.”  
Laura sighs and nods, “Alright, you’re right…moon pie? Really?”  
“What?” Carmilla asks, “They’re delicious. And so are you.” She smirks.  
Laura rolls her eyes and turns back to the camera, “So, I probably won’t be joining any clubs on campus. I wanted to join the society of professional journalism, but their first journalistic excursion is to another dimension and Carmilla thinks that’s too dangerous.”  
Carmilla shakes her head, “You’re just starting out, Buttercup. You’ve already thrown yourself into plenty of danger, let’s wait on going to another dimension after you have more experience.”  
“Fine.” Laura says, “And there’s some kind of sleuthing club or something on campus, at least I’ve heard rumor which sounds like it’d be right up my alley, but I couldn’t seem to find any reference to it anywhere and they didn’t have a booth at the club fair this afternoon. So I guess maybe it was all hearsay.”  
“Perhaps I’m rather relieved that you’re not joining a sleuthing club and getting your cute little nose into more trouble.” Carmilla says.  
“Are you worried about me?” Laura says with a smirk, tilting her head up to look behind her where Carmilla was standing behind her chair.  
“What? No, of course not.” Carmilla says moving away from her and back towards her bed, “You can do whatever you want.”  
Laura smirks, “You’re concerned for me.” She teases, “You like me soooo much.”  
“Shut up.” Carmilla says, “No I don’t.”  
“Haha, you totally do.” Laura replies rolling her chair over to where Carmilla is sitting on the bed.  
Carmilla looks at her seriously now, “Of course I worry about you, Laura.”  
Laura blushes and then says awkwardly, “Thanks.”  
“Now come here Cutie, you’ve spent too much time entertaining your audience and not enough entertaining me.” She smiles and pulls her closer on the chair.  
“Oh? I have to entertain you now. What did you have in mind?” Laura asks.  
Carmilla smirks and then leans in for a rather passionate kiss.

End of video

 

1/12/15  
Laura sits in front of the camera as usual, doing work this time. LaFontaine is on Laura’s bed doing work as well and Carmilla appears to be asleep on her own bed.  
Laura looks up and gives an embarrassed smile to the camera, “So, the video last time ended rather abruptly. We kind of forgot to turn off the camera before things got…intimate. But fortunately, the video is on a delay giving me enough time to edit anything out that would not be considered PG. So I know there are some of you out there who would be more than willing to watch us…you know…”  
LaFontaine snickers in the background and Laura shoots them a look.  
“But keep it in your pants you creepy pervs, that stuff is private, between me and my girlfriend.” Laura says.  
“Unlike the rest of your life.” Lafontaine adds, “Why are you filming again this semester anyway? Isn’t your journalism project over?”  
Laura shrugs, “I don’t know. I just sort of got into the habit of it, plus people seem to like it and I can inform them on all the weird and whatnot going on here on campus, make sure people keep safe. Plus, as Professor Madison says…” Laura begins and begins to speak in a deeper, more dramatic voce, “You must keep vigilant! Always hone your journalistic skills! Anything could be a story! If you don’t keep constant watch, you could miss it!” She then lowers her arm which had been raised, sweeping about for dramatic effect, and then says, “So yeah, I’m honing my journalistic skills, you know.”  
LaFontaine laughs, “Alright Frosh, just be careful about what you post out to the great wide web. Once it’s out there, it’s out there for good.”  
Laura nods, “I know, I know. I’m careful…mostly.” She looks at the clock, “Oh crap, I was supposed to meet Danny like ten minutes ago!”  
“Danny?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Yeah, she’s my lit TA again.” Laura replies, “We’re meeting to go over my first paper which is due next week. Can you believe it, we’re not even a month into school and I already have a paper.”  
“That’s college.” LaFontaine says, “And not just weird Silas college, that’s like normal college. Especially in an advanced English class.”  
“Yeah, I know, it just sucks because I was hoping to have more free time this semester.” Laura says with a groan as she begins to pack up her bag. The movement and rustling wakes up Carmilla. She looks up and spies Laura packing her things to head out somewhere.  
“Where are you going?” Carmilla asks.  
Laura freezes, realizing she forgot to mention to Carmilla who her lit TA was again and that she was going to meet her.  
“Uh…..” Laura begins, “To meet with my lit TA about a paper.” Laura hopes that’s enough for Carmilla.  
Carmilla isn’t buying it, “And who might your lit TA be?” She asks in a fake sweet tone.  
Laura frowns, hesitates, and then says, “…Danny.”  
Carmilla scowls, “You’re going to meet with Danny and you didn’t tell me.”  
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to not tell you. It wasn’t like I was keeping it from you or anything. I swear.” Laura says quickly.  
“It kind of seems like you were trying to keep it from me just now.” Carmilla says, her voice low and dangerous.   
“Okay, maybe just now I was and I’m sorry about that, but I wasn’t keeping it from you before. I seriously just forgot to tell you.” Laura says.  
“Is that why you were trying to sneak out of here?” Carmilla asks.  
Laura shakes her head, “I wasn’t trying to sneak out of here. I swear. I just was honestly leaving to go meet with her and then you woke up. I promise I was going to tell you. Really, I wasn’t trying to keep it from you…except right now…but that was obviously stupid of me and I just thought you’d be mad because I didn’t tell you before, so I thought I’d just tell you later and…well obviously that didn’t work out, because you’re even madder than you would have been, and I’m sorry about that. I should have just told you and…” Laura begins to nervously ramble and Carmilla rolls her eyes and gets up off the bed.  
She steps in front of Laura and places her hands on her shoulders, “Laura, stop. It’s fine.”  
“Really?” Laura asks, hope in her eyes.  
“Well no, I wish you’d told me.” Carmilla says, “You trying to keep it from me is not fine and we’ll talk about that later. But having Danny as your lit TA is fine and you going to see her is also fine. You don’t have to keep that kind of stuff from me, okay.”  
Laura nods sadly, “Yeah, sorry. I really am sorry.”  
“I know, Cupcake.” Carmilla says and plants a kiss on Laura’s forehead, “Now why don’t you head off to go meet with Jolly Red.”   
“And we’re really okay?” Laura asks.  
“We’re more than okay, we’re perfect.” Carmilla says and they hear LaFontaine gag from behind them. Carmilla shoots them a glare and they shut up.  
“Okay good.” Laura gives Carmilla one last apologetic look and also begins to pack up her things.  
They hear LaFontaine begin to pack up their things in the background.  
Carmilla sees LaFontaine getting ready to leave and frowns, she thinks for a moment, sighs, and then says, “You can stay if you’d like. You don’t have to leave.”  
Both Laura and LaFontaine look at Carmilla a bit stunned, but she just glares back at both of them, daring them to say anything. They look at each other and then both decide not to say a word.  
“Uh, yeah. Cool, thanks.” LaFontaine says and starts taking their things back out again.  
Laura continues to pack up, once she’s finished, she pecks Carmilla on the cheek, smiles at her and says, “I’m…”  
“If the next word out of your mouth is ‘sorry’, I swear I will bite you.’ Carmilla says.  
Laura yelps and then finishes, “…going to be back around eight.”  
Carmilla smiles, “See you then, Cupcake.” She then flops back down onto her bed and picks up a book.   
Laura nods and then says goodbye to LaFontaine, she then leaves the room. Suddenly the room feels very empty and very quiet.   
LaFontaine continues to work for about ten more minutes before they begin to pack up their stuff and say, “Nope, this is weird.”   
Carmilla sighs with relief, “Oh thank god, yes, completely.”  
LaFontaine quickly finishes packing and then bolts out of the room.

End of video

 

1/16/15  
Laura sits in front of her computer and it appears to be evening. She’s all dressed up to go to a party. She’s in bright yellow halter top and tight white shorts. On her feet are low, chunky yellow heels. Her makeup is done and her hair is up. Draped over the chair is a long, black coat, and on the bed are a hat and some mittens.  
Behind her LaFontaine and Perry are getting ready. Carmilla is lounging on her bed, looking bored.  
Laura smiles wide at the camera.  
“So, we’re all getting ready to go out to the Zeta’s party. It should be fun.” Laura says and she hears Carmilla mumble something under her breath.  
“Yeah, sounds like they’re having a good time already.” LaFontaine says and muffled music with a pounding beat as well as shouts and cheers can be heard from outside. Perry straightens the bowtie around their neck.  
“Just you know, be careful with drinking too much everyone. We don’t want people disappearing like last time. So just keep it to a few drinks…” Perry says and looks at Carmilla, “I don’t even know what kind of tolerance vampires have for alcohol, but I assume you do, so be careful.” Carmilla just shrugs and Perry continues, “And drink lots of water. And if you put your drink down, don’t pick it up and drink it, get a new one. And don’t drink anything anyone hands to you, get your own drink. And it’s cold out, so please wear your jacket and gloves and whatnot when you’re outside and…”  
“Alright Perr, we get it.” LaFontaine says with a laugh, “We’ll be careful, we promise.”  
“Yes, mother hen, we’ll be on our best behavior. Only milk and cookies for us, scouts honor.” Carmilla says mockingly, which earns a slap on the shoulder from Laura, who grins anyway.  
“Well excuse me for being concerned about all of you.” Perry says with a frown.  
“Okay Perr, we’re sorry. We do appreciate you looking out for us, okay?” LaFontaine says and nudges her with their elbow, “Common, crack a smile for me will you. Common, we’re going to a party to have some fun. Plus, you look gorgeous. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep my eyes off you all night, so you don’t have to worry about me wandering off and disappearing.”  
That earns them a smile from Perry who just shakes her head, “You always know what to say, don’t you.”  
“I’m smooth that way.” LaFontaine adds and Carmilla snorts.  
“Alright everyone? Ready to go?” Laura asks.  
They all nod, except Carmilla who shakes her head, but gets up to go anyway. Carmilla herself is dressed in ripped black skinny jeans, a tight black strapless shirt, and high spiky black heals. Her hair is down and loose and her makeup is heavy and dark around the eyes. She looks stunning and Laura can barely keep her own eyes off her.   
Carmilla catches Laura staring at her and smirks, “See something you like, Cutie?”  
Laura blushes, but says, “You look gorgeous tonight too, you know?”  
Now it’s Carmilla’s turn to blush as they make their way out the door. The music growing louder as the door opens and then softer again once the door shuts. 

End of video


	4. Lab Partner

1/19/15

Laura looks at the camera with tired eyes, the results of a weekend ordeal plain on her face. Carmilla is lounging behind her on her bed, pretending to read a book, but is instead eyeing Laura.   
Laura sighs as she begins, “So it’s the third week back at Silas and well, you know, things are just as insane as usual.” Carmilla laughs in the background.  
“So, we go to the party like you saw and well, it was fun for a while. The music was decent. The alcohol…was well frat party alcohol, but it wasn’t too bad. The Zetas weren’t too…”  
“Obnoxious.” Carmilla finishes for her.  
“I was going to say enthusiastic, but yeah. Even Carmilla and Danny were getting along…sort of.”  
“I didn’t feel like killing her more than twice.” Carmilla says, “I think that shows great growth on my part.”  
Laura rolls her eyes, but continues, “Overall, it was shaping up to be a fun night.” Laura says, “I think even Carmilla was having a good time.”  
“I was enjoying the company, nothing more.” Carmilla says, grinning at Laura who blushes.  
“Yeah well, we were partying for several hours. I swear I saw LaFontaine do a keg stand at some point. I don’t think that was in Perry’s list of approved activities.”  
“I spotted June Cleaver table dancing at one point, so I doubt the nerd was in too hot water with her later.” Carmilla says.  
Laura laughs and then shakes her head, “It was fun for a while. The party got so big that it spilled out into the quad. It may still be cold out, but all that alcohol and dancing and other activities were keeping people fairly warm. But then some of the more wasted Zetas, including Kirsch I think, ended up lighting part of the North Woods on fire by accident. Which then pissed off the dryads living in said woods. Anyway, the trees started to attack and let me tell you, leaves can be all kinds of sharp when their flung at you at projectile speeds. Then on top of that, the dryads decided to contact their brethren the naiads and the campus started to flood. So the Summer Society began to make makeshift rafts out of whatever was available and started using their javelins like harpoons to get at the naiads. While the rest of us either fought off the dryads or tried to calm them down. That was until the Zetas started lighting more trees on fire in the forest which turned into raging forest fire. To stop that everyone had to band together, both human, vampire, and fey to stop it. By the end, both sides agreed to hold off on destroying each other because it was too dangerous. So now we have some kind of truce, although no one is allowed into the North Woods for a while which is sort of bummer for the Summer Society, but at least no one is permanently dead.”  
“But as per usual life goes on here at Silas, and while everyone is trying not to die, we still have homework and classes to deal with. Which reminds me that I have chemistry lab in about an hour. Yay, first lab class at Silas, this can’t go horribly wrong. But at least LaFontaine is taking it with me, so we can be lab partners.”   
Carmilla smirks and says, “I can think of something to do in an hour that’s much better than your class.”   
Laura rolls her eyes, but a smile plays across her lips, “I have to get ready for class Carmilla.”  
“Do you? Do you really?” Carmilla says getting up from the bed and approaching Laura with a saunter.  
Laura suddenly feels like maybe lab class can wait.  
“Uh…” Is all Laura manages to say as Carmilla gets closer to her.  
“Very articulate, Creampuff.” Carmilla says.  
Laura then shakes her head, trying to get herself out of her trance, “Uh…well sorry, I do have to get ready.” She then turns back to the camera and Carmilla pouts, “But as you all can see, Carmilla and my relationship is going well so far.”  
“I’ll say.” Carmilla says with a hungry look in her eyes. Laura looks back at her with a smile and then seems to get distracted as her girlfriend sends her an incredibly seductive look. Laura shakes her head and blinks a few times.  
“Sorry, what…what was I saying?” Laura says turning back to the camera.  
“You were telling the unwashed masses about our private relationship dear.” Carmilla tells her.  
“Right, yeah, so it’s going pretty well so far, we’ve only had a few…hiccups.” Laura says, “Like Carmilla distracting me when I’m trying to do work or focus. She is insatiable sometimes.”  
“Don’t blame me.” Carmilla says, still smirking, “I can’t help it that you’re so very appealing.”  
“And also, the biting.” Laura said, “Which I rather enjoy if I’m being honest.” Carmilla smiles in the background and runs her hand along Laura’s shoulder.   
Laura shakes her head to clear it and then continues, “It’s just that, the biting leaves marks, which can be hard to cover up and I don’t want anyone like my friends or god forbid my Dad to start getting worried. It’s all in good fun, I swear, nothing dangerous.”  
“Only if you want it to be Cupcake.” Carmilla adds and Laura gets distracted again.  
“But LaFontaine keeps asking if it hurts and what the prolonged effects of being bitten repeatedly are and Perry just keeps fussing over the fact that I could get an infection. And then there’s Danny who hasn’t said anything, but gives me these looks like she’s waiting for me to tell her that’s it’s against my will, and that Carmilla has me under some kind of spell, and that she can go ahead and kill her now.”  
“Like she could take me.” Carmilla scoffs.  
“But anyway, besides all that, it’s been good, no, it’s been great.” Laura says and sends a beaming smile Carmilla’s way. Carmilla seems thrilled by this, but is unsure of how to respond, so she just sends an uncertain smile back. Laura takes this just as she should and then turns back to the camera.  
“So I better start getting ready for chemistry. The required reading for this class was weird. Plus, it says we need all these weird vials and beakers and whatnot, plus a cauldron. And gloves that can withstand 1000 degrees of heat. So, you know, standard Silas bizarreness.”  
Carmilla slinks off the bed and approaches Laura, “Come now dear, we’ve got some time before class.”  
Laura looks up at Carmilla confused, “But…I have to prepare…”  
Carmilla places a finger to her lips, “Shhh.” She then leans in and kisses her. Laura looks somewhat startled and then yelps as Carmilla easily lifts her out of the chair. She then wrap her legs around Carmilla’s waist. They begin to approach the bed, still kissing until Carmilla turns around and reaches toward the computer. She smirks at the camera and then the video goes dark. 

End of video

 

1/20/15

Laura sits in front of the camera, with Perry packing up her things behind her. Laura is facing her and smiling, “So, good job today.”  
Perry smiles back at her and nods, “Thanks! It was…fun…I think.” She laughs, “Well, I’m going to get going. Thanks for everything, Laura.” She waves to her as she leaves.  
“No problem!” Laura shouts after her and waves goodbye. Once Perry is out the door, Laura turns to the camera, “So, lab yesterday was interesting. Think less chemistry and more potions from Harry Potter. Plus, I don’t think our professor is human. I couldn’t quite see, but I think he might have scales. And in another awesome twist, LaFontaine got invited to be in a more advanced course, something about necromancy or something, so let’s all hope she doesn’t go all lich king or whatever, but that means I’m without a lab partner. Or I would be if it weren’t required for the class. So, now I’m paired off with some girl named Gwen. I haven’t met her yet, but I’m already concerned. For one thing, she is a recent transfer to Silas. You heard me right, to Silas. Who transfers to this school anyway? No one I know has ever transferred to this school, although plenty have transferred out. So that’s already alarming, although when I mentioned it to Carmilla all she said was, ‘As long as she’s not as irritating as Xena.’ Xena being Carmilla’s oh so endearing nickname for Danny, if you hadn’t caught on. Danny finds it annoying, but also I think she kind of likes it too. I mean common, who wouldn’t want to be compared to Xena?  
But anyway, back to the new lab partner, I heard some rumors that she’s a little weird, and if people at Silas are saying she’s weird, well that means she’s probably a Cyclops or something. Although maybe I shouldn’t be so judgmental, I am dating a vampire after all.   
And on top of all that, I didn’t see her in class yesterday, so not only is she a weird, slightly alarming lab partner, she’s also probably not a very good student. Which sucks. Especially since our final project apparently involves brewing an alchemical solution, which kind of sounds a lot like a potion, and then having your partner drink it and then writing a lab report about the results. Let’s just hope Gwen isn’t some evil, diabolical mad scientist type…or completely incompetent.   
However, I did manage to get in contact with her via email. So, we’re meeting up today, actually she should be here soon.”  
A moment later there’s a knock on the door.  
“Hmm, knocking is that a good sign or a bad sign. Do normal people knock? Oh man, I can’t remember. This school is definitely getting to me.” Laura says and then springs to her feet when there is another knock, “Coming!”  
She opens the door and a blond haired girl of medium height and build, wearing a brown leather jacket, blue shirt, jeans, and brown boots walks in with a backpack slung over her shoulder. Right off the bat she looks…normal. The only noticeable thing is a slight limp.  
“Hi.” The girl says with a friendly smile and an outstretched hand which Laura accepts for a quick shake, “I’m Gwen, you must be my lab partner Laura?”  
“Yes, that’s me.” Laura says and shuts the door as Gwen comes further into the room.  
“Nice to meet you Laura, so…shall we get started.” Gwen asks, “What did you think of lab yesterday by the way?” She says while Laura gestures for her to come to the desk and sit down. Gwen takes her bag off her shoulder and begins sits.  
“Uh, what do you mean? Were you there? I didn’t see you, I mean I looked for you after class once we had been assigned as partners.” Laura says.  
“Yeah, I was there. I came in late and sat in the back. I think you were up front? And then I left quickly once class was finished because I have a class right after and didn’t want to be late again. Maybe that’s why you didn’t see me? I would normally sit closer, but like I said, I was late. I got lost getting to class. Did you know this school has underground tunnels?” Gwen says, unpacking her bag and taking out a notebook.   
“Yeah, uh, yeah I did. I got lost down there once too.” Laura says.  
“This place is…strange.” Gwen said, “Like our professor for Lab, I mean, I know this is going to sound crazy, but when he turned around to write on the board, I think I saw a tail. Like no kidding.”  
“Really? Cause I swear he had scales.” Laura adds.  
“What if he’s some kind of lizardman? You know like that conspiracy theory or whatever.” Gwen said with a chuckle.  
“Or one of his experiments in lab went wrong and now he looks like that, like in Spiderman.” Laura says.  
“Or he has some kind of growth and skin condition and we’re horrible people.” Gwen says faux seriously and then shook her head, “Nah, I’m going to go with lizardman or experiment gone wrong.”  
“But yeah this place is weird.” Laura says, “You’ll get used to it…sort of. Just don’t go into the library after dark. Or the woods. Or the underground tunnels. Oh and never question the pie.”  
“Whoa, you’re making me nervous here.” Gwen says with a laugh, “But speaking of weird, lab class? What’s up with that? Chemistry at Duke was nothing like this and I should know, I’m a Chem major. This is like some kind of witchcraft nonsense or something.”  
“You went to Duke? Why did you decide to transfer here, if you don’t mind me asking?” Laura asks.  
“I lost my athletic scholarship and well, Duke isn’t so cheap and this place is surprisingly affordable.” Gwen tells her.  
“Oh, that’s too bad. You play a sport?” Laura asks.  
“Played, yeah, I played soccer, but I tore my ACL the first game of the season. And well, here I am.” Gwen says, a little somberly.   
“I’m sorry. Uh…let’s get back to lab stuff.” Laura says, quickly changing the subject.  
Gwen nods in agreement and then asks, “Yeah, so did you read what our final project was?”  
Laura nods, “Yup.”  
“This place is so weird.” Gwen says and they begin to do work. After a few moments of discussing the lab, going over problems, and whatnot Gwen notices the light on the camera is on.  
“Uh…Laura.” Gwen says, “Are you recording right now?”  
Laura looks up from where she was reading and says, “What? Oh yeah, sorry I forgot to say. I have to remember that new people don’t know this. I record a lot in here, like almost all the time. It started out as a journalism project from last semester, but I’ve decided continue and do a video diary of sorts. Is…is that going to be a problem?”  
Gwen seems to think for a moment and then shrugs, “Nah, it’s alright. I’ll just have to remember not to say anything too stupid.”  
Laura laughs and then resumes working. They work for the next couple hours, taking a few breaks here and there. Everything is going well until Carmilla bursts through the door. Carmilla walks in and then freezes when she sees Gwen. Gwen looks up and smiles.  
“Hi.” Gwen says with a small wave.  
Laura gives Carmilla a look, telling her to respond and Carmilla gives a gruff, “Hey.”  
Laura rolls her eyes and gets up, intercepting Carmilla before she can flop down onto her bed. She grabs her by the arm and drags her over to Gwen.  
“Gwen, this is my girlfriend and roommate Carmilla.” Laura tells her and then turns to Carmilla, “Carmilla this is my new lab partner Gwen.”   
Gwen stands up and holds out her hand for a handshake. Carmilla hesitates for a moment and then grabs Gwen’s hand; they hold each other’s hands tightly, perhaps too tightly for a friendly handshake. They lock eyes with one another, Gwen has a friendly smile plastered on her face, while Carmilla just scowls.  
Laura can feel the tension in the room, but doesn’t understand why. She figures it’s probably Carmilla just being Carmilla. The two release hands and while the tension doesn’t dissipate, the two relax some.   
“Nice to meet you Carmilla.” Gwen says.  
“Yes.” Carmilla says, “It’s too bad you’re leaving now.”  
Laura shoots Carmilla a sharp look and then says, “Carmilla, we’re working, she’s not leaving yet.”  
“It’s alright.” Gwen says, “I should go anyway. We’re did a good chunk of it, besides my own roommate can’t be on her own in the dark.” She begins to gather up her stuff, once she’s finished she turns back to Laura, though Carmilla is standing right next to her, as if guarding her, “See you in lab Laura.”  
“Wait, when do you want to meet next?” Laura asks and she feels Carmilla stiffen next to her, but ignores it for now.  
Gwen thinks and then says, “I’m free around this time on Friday. If that works for you…”  
Laura nods, “Yeah, sounds good.”   
“Alright, see you Friday then.” Gwen says and then leaves shutting the door.  
Once the door is closed Laura turns towards Carmilla angrily while Carmilla just scowls at the shut door.  
“What the hell was that?” Laura asks.  
Carmilla now turns towards her girlfriend, “What do mean dear?”  
“You were so rude to her.” Laura says.  
Carmilla shrugs and leans against the desk, “I’m not sure why this surprises you still, but if you hadn’t noticed I’m not particularly fond of people.”  
“Yeah, but you’re not usually so…” Laura begins.  
“Yeah well, something about her bothered me. I don’t like her.” Carmilla says.  
Laura looks at Carmilla skeptically and then her eyes widen, “Oh my god, are you…jealous?”  
Carmilla snaps her head around to look at Laura, surprised by the question, “I am not jealous.”  
“Oh my god, you’re so totally jealous.” Laura says with a huge grin.  
Carmilla rolls her eyes and then moves away from Laura to flop down onto the bed, “You are delusional. I’m not jealous. There’s just something I don’t like about that girl. She’s…off somehow.”  
“Oh common, she was totally fine. I spent hours with her and she seemed completely normal. This has nothing to do with that. I think you’re jealous.” Laura says, still grinning as she gets up out of her chair and moves towards Carmilla’s bed.   
“Cupcake, you can keep telling yourself that, but it’s just not true.” Carmilla says.  
“Haha, you’re jealous, you’re jealous, you’re jealous.” Laura sings with glee, not seeing the look on Carmilla’s face.  
Carmilla scowls and then her lips turn up into a smirk, “Why would I be jealous Cupcake, when I can do this.” She then lunges off the bed tackling Laura in the process, who yelps loudly as they both fall towards Laura’s bed. 

End of video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, things will start to pick up in the next chapter or so and then we'll get into the real nitty gritty.


	5. Did someone say murder?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: There are some gruesome descriptions of a murder in this chapter

1/21/15

Laura sits at her desk while LaFontaine sits on Laura’s bed doing work. Perry is seen scurrying about cleaning.   
“So, my classes are a mix of weird and normal so far.” Laura says and LaFontaine looks up and stops working for a moment and then looks back down, “We’ve got chemistry which as I said before is not like any regular chemistry class. We’ve got my lit class, which is fine.”  
Laura continues, “We’ve got my art class where I think my professor is supernatural in some way, that or she uses very good drugs or something. Half the time I can’t remember what even happened in that class, I just leave feeling good. And then my two journalism courses, which are fine so far. Professor Madison is as enthusiastic as ever, but besides that…normal.”  
Perry comes out of the bathroom holding a partially blood stained t-shirt as if it were radioactive, “What is this?”  
Laura turns and then says, “My shirt.”  
“Why does it have blood on it?” Perry asks, already knowing the answer.  
“Perry, we’ve been over this, I promise you, I’m fine. Carmilla takes care of me. She would never do anything to hurt me.” Laura says.  
“Except, you know, bite your neck.” LaFontaine comments.  
Laura shoots her a look and then turns back to Perry, “Perry, really, I’m fine.”  
Perry frowns and walks away, “If you get an infection, do not come crying to me.”  
Laura turns around back towards the camera and sighs.   
She then seems to be thinking for a moment says, “Hmm, I really thought I’d have more to talk about. Last semester with the whole kidnapping, finding out my roommate was a vampire, and then you know, going into a final battle to the death was kind of exciting stuff. These past few days have been…kind of normal, well as normal as Silas can get, but you know what I mean. Who knew that going to a school with a library that attacks and having a vampire as a girlfriend could be so…dull.”  
Suddenly there is a bloodcurdling scream from the hallway.  
LaFontaine looks up and glares at Laura, “Look what you did now! You had to jinx it.” They then leap to their feet and heads out the door. Perry goes with them.   
“Me!” Laura shouts after them, following them out the door, “How is this my fault?”

About twenty minutes later.

Laura, Danny, LaFontaine, and Perry are huddled around Gwen who is sitting on Laura’s bed looking shell-shocked. Carmilla lounges on her own bed, watching Gwen carefully. Laura walks over to the camera and sits down, angling her chair so the camera can see everyone on the bed.   
“So…” Laura begins, “After we heard…the scream.” She pauses and looks at Gwen who turns to stare blankly at the camera.   
“That was me.” Gwen says quietly.  
Laura nods and says, “Yeah…that was Gwen. After we heard…Gwen, we left the room to go see what was happening. And we get to her room and Gwen is standing there in the doorway not moving. So I step forward and put a hand on her shoulder. And she looks at me and moves aside like she isn’t even registering I’m there. So I step forward.”  
“And I see there’s blood on the floor.” LaFontaine says and gets up to move towards the camera, “It’s starting to seep out into the hallway. So I tell Laura, who sees it just in time before stepping in it.”  
“Yeah, so I step around the blood and into the room and there’s this smell.” Laura says.  
“Yeah, this smell, like this overwhelmingly putrid smell.” LaFontaine says.  
“Like when you leave meat out for too long, only worse.” Danny adds.  
“Yeah, like that, but also mixed with this kind of sweet, cloying, coppery smell.” LaFontaine says, “Which I think was all the blood.”  
“And there was a lot of blood.” Laura says and then adds, “Alright gentle viewers, if you’re of the faint of heart, you might want to skip ahead because we’re about to get graphic here. Just a warning. Alright, so we step into the room further and there’s blood like everywhere. All over the floor in thick puddles. The walls are splattered with it. Even the ceiling.” Laura looks back at Carmilla who hasn’t said a word, but she does notice Carmilla licking her lips.  
“So we already know this is going to be bad. But we weren’t prepared for how bad. So Laura and I are inching forward nervously, while we hear Perry behind us directing people, keeping them away. And then we get past the dressers and lay our eyes on the bed and there’s…” LaFontaine hesitates as they turn to look back at Gwen.  
However, Gwen doesn’t seem to be paying attention to any of them at the moment, so LaFontaine continues, “So, there’s Gwen’s roommate splayed out on the bed. Her chest…chest cavity is…uh…it’s split open. From clavicle to belly button. And her….insides are like everywhere.”  
“And then I threw up.” Laura says and suddenly Carmilla is at her side, rubbing her arm.  
“And then I show up.” Danny says, “Cause word has spread and people are saying they heard screaming coming from this dorm and they think someone is dead. So I rush over, hoping it’s not you Laura.”  
Carmilla scowls at Danny, “I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”  
“I know. But I worry anyway.” Danny says and then continues, “So I get there and I see Perry comforting…Gwen and I see the door is open. And I walk in and there’s Laura, bent over vomiting while LaF tries to help her. And I spot the body and I notice that…well that the girl’s heart is missing.” Danny says.  
“Yeah, so I walk over as Laura is still queasy and I look and see that Danny’s right. Her heart is missing. And not like, well this is going to sound gross, but whatever, not like in pieces all over the room missing, but like someone took it out missing.” LaFontaine says.  
“And the poor girl’s eyes are wide, like she’s terrified.” Danny says, “And so LaFontaine decides to take some pictures of the whole thing with her phone because well…just in case you know?”  
“I already called the police.” Gwen says, once again quietly, “I got no answer.”  
“I took some blood samples too.” LaFontaine adds.  
“So once we have everything, we leave the room.” Laura says, “And we’re standing outside the doorway when the Dean, the new Dean shows up in a gray suit, with sunglasses on, inside again by the way. And behind him are two huge looking guys in black suits and he spots the room and gestures for them to go inside. He then sees us and swaggers over with this sleazy smile on his face and says, ‘There’s nothing to see here ladies, we’ll take care of it, don’t worry. Go back to your rooms.’”  
“Then he asks us, ‘Oh, and do you happen to know who else lives in this room?’” LaFontaine adds, “And it seems like such an innocent question.”  
“But none of us want to answer him.” Danny says, “Because there’s something about him that just…”  
“He gives me the heebie jeebies is what he does.” LaFontaine says, “Like he is all kinds of sinister.”  
“Yeah, we got rid of one scary Dean only to have her replaced with another one. It’s like it’s some kind of requirement that you must be tall, power suited, and terrifying to be Dean of this school.” Laura says, “So we don’t tell him that it’s Gwen’s room, because who knows what’ll happen if they take her away. So we all just shake our heads and he nods and strolls right into the room, while whistling. Whistling, like this is no big deal. Like there wasn’t the blood and the smell and the….body After that we get out of there fast and came back here and well….here we are.”   
They all sit there in silence for a while.  
“So….now what?” LaFontaine asks.

End of video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And away we go.


	6. And so it begins

1/21/15

Gwen seems to snap out of her daze and looks toward LaFontaine, “What do we do? We call the police again. We call them until they answer. Or campus security. Or I don’t know, does anyone have the number for the FBI?”  
“I mean…we can try.” LaFontaine says without much enthusiasm.  
“What do you mean try?” Gwen asks looking at everyone in the room, “Are you telling me the police won’t come? Are you telling me no one will come? I mean, the Dean was there, he saw it. And those men, who now that I think about it were probably campus security. I mean, won’t they do something?”  
“They’ll do something alright.” Danny tells her, “But it won’t be anything that helps us.”  
“Are you telling me we’re on our own here?” Gwen asks, “No, no, this is a school full of adults, faculty and staff. There has to be someone who can help us? Right?” When everyone looks at her blankly not answering she begins to lose it, “Are you telling me my roommate just got MURDERED and no one is going to do anything about it!?”   
“Now, now, we don’t know that she was murdered.” Perry says.  
LaFontaine groans, “This again Perr, I thought you were over this.”  
“We can’t just jump to conclusions about things.” Perry replies.  
“No, I’m sure you’re right, I’m sure her heart decided to just leap out of her chest and walk away, leaving all that blood splattered all over the place.” LaFontaine counters, “The girl was murdered, that much we know. The question is who or what did this.”  
“What?” Gwen says  
“What, what?” Laura asks.  
“You said what.” Gwen says pointing to LaFontaine, “What do you mean what?”  
“What about what?” LaFontaine asks now confused.  
“Idiots.” Carmilla mumbles to herself.  
“You said who or what.” Gwen says, “Who or what murdered her. What do you mean by what? How can it be a what? A person murdered her right? Unless it was an animal or something, but I don’t see that being likely. So what do you mean by what?”  
Nobody answers her.  
“I hate this place.” Gwen says putting her head in her hands, “I hate this place so much. I thought all the stories were jokes, legends made up by bored students. I didn’t expect…this.”  
“I know it seems…overwhelming.” Laura says, “But know this, we’re here for you. You’re not alone in this, we’ll figure this out, okay.”   
She then hears Carmilla clear her throat and looks up at her, “What?”  
“Can I talk to you for a moment?” Carmilla asks and then glares at LaFontaine who is sitting right next to Laura, “In private.” LaFontaine gets the hint and walks back towards the others, where they begin to talk amongst themselves.  
Carmilla then leans in, resting her elbows on the desk so that their faces are almost touching, “You’re not really going to do this are you?”  
“Do what?” Laura asks.  
“You know, all this stuff again.” Carmilla says gesturing in a way that means, ‘all of this stuff’, “I mean it’s really none of our business.”  
“What do you mean? A girl got murdered.” Laura says.  
“Yeah, but I mean she wasn’t your roommate or your friend, and you just met this girl a few days ago. This isn’t our problem.” Carmilla says.  
Laura looks at her like she has two heads, “Of course it’s our problem. A girl in our dorm got murdered in a horrific way. Those images will stay with me for the rest of my life. And we both know, no one else on this campus is going to do anything about it. So it’s either us, or no one. And I can’t just let this go. Besides, what if this isn’t a onetime thing? What if others are in danger? I couldn’t live with myself if other people got hurt while we did nothing.”  
Carmilla looks at Laura with a mix of awe, exasperation, and worry, she then sighs and says, “Alright Creampuff, let’s do this…again.”  
Laura smiles and then says, “You know, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I totally understand if you don’t want to…” She was cut off when Carmilla put a hand over her mouth.  
“Sweetheart, I’m not letting you put yourself in danger without me by your side. So if you’re going to do this, we’re doing this together, got it?” Carmilla says and this time Laura looks at her with awe. Laura nods in response.  
Carmilla smiles, “Alright good. Now where do we start Nancy Drew?” She removes her hand from Laura’s mouth.  
Laura turns around in her chair and faces the group, “So what’s the plan here guys?”  
“We need more information.” LaFontaine says.  
“Like a motive.” Carmilla says and everyone looks at her, surprised that she’s helping. She just shrugs and they resume discussing.  
“Yes, like a motive.” LaFontaine says, “We also need to know how. Whoever or whatever did that was very strong. You can’t just punch through someone’s sternum without some wicked muscle behind it.”  
“And what they’re doing with the heart.” Laura adds, “I mean, you don’t just take a heart for no reason.”  
“So we need to know the who, the why, and the how. What do we know?” LaFontaine asks and they then turn to Gwen.  
Gwen seems overwhelmed again and she’s collapsing in on herself, eyes beginning to water as she’s fighting back tears. Danny notices and says, “Okay guys, we’ve all had a long day, I think we should call it quits for now. Meet back up here tomorrow and discuss the plan.”   
“What? But we barely got…” LaFontaine begins and gets a light elbow to the ribs from Perry before they get it, “Oh yeah, now that I think about it I’m pretty beat. Let’s meet up tomorrow after classes. Discuss what we’re doing.”  
“Honey, you can stay with us if you like?” Perry offers Gwen.  
“Or us.” Laura adds and then gets a look from Carmilla, “I mean…um…you’ll probably be more comfortable with them…but…”  
“Why don’t you come with me?” Danny says, “We have extra rooms in the Summer Society house. You can take one of those for now.”   
Gwen nods, “Yeah, that sounds good.” Danny, Gwen, LaFontaine, and Perry all stand up to leave.  
“I’ll swing by your room Gwen, see if I can pick up more samples. See if whoever or whatever it was left anything behind. But I have a feeling the room’s probably been wiped clean by now.” LaFontaine says and Laura nods.  
“While we’re there, is there anything you’d like us to get for you Gwen?” Perry asks, “I don’t think you should go in there anytime soon.” They all start heading towards the door.  
Gwen pauses and thinks for a moment, “Uh, if you could grab my laptop, that’d be good and maybe a change of clothes for tomorrow. Oh and my guitar. I could use a good distraction.”  
“Sure thing, no problem. We’ll come by after we’ve got everything.” LaFontaine says.  
As they go to leave Gwen turns around and says, “Thanks you guys…I know you don’t have to…I mean this isn’t…just thanks.” They all give kind smiles and nods and she turns around to leave. Danny places a hand on the small of her back and ushers her out the door.  
They can hear Danny speaking as she goes, “That’s cool that you play guitar, you’ll have to play for me sometime.”   
“Sure.” Gwen says and their voices fade into the distance.   
Laura turns away from the door and takes a deep breath in and out.   
Carmilla looks at her, “You alright?”  
Laura nods, “Just a bit dazed is all. Everything happened so very fast.”  
Carmilla nods and begins rubbing her arm again, “I’ll say it again, you know you don’t have to do this right?”  
Laura nods, “I know. But…”  
“You can’t not, I get it.” Carmilla says and shakes her head, “I thought us being together was going to be an adventure for you, but I think it’s going to be a wild ride for me as well.”  
Laura laughs, “Sorry.”  
Carmilla shakes her head and kisses Laura’s forehead, “Don’t be sorry. Never apologize for who you are.”  
“Thanks.” Laura says with a small smile.  
“I’m just concerned that this is all going to end very badly, very quickly.” Carmilla says with a frown.  
“What makes you say that?” Laura asks.  
“You know it’s all an act right?” Carmilla asks now, giving Laura a confused look.  
“What’s all an act?” Laura asks.  
Carmilla looks surprised and says, “The crying, stunned, traumatized, I have no idea what’s going on here, this is all so new to me, what do we do, help me thing….that’s all fake.”  
“Oh Carmilla, really?” Laura says somewhat exasperated.  
“No, seriously.” Carmilla says in a serious tone, “Tell me you see it too?”  
“Carmilla, Gwen isn’t faking it. I don’t know why you think she is or why you feel there’s something off about her, but those emotions, those reactions were genuine. Anyone would feel that way after all this, actually to be honest I think she took it kind of well.” Laura tells her.   
“When you’ve been around as long as I have, when you’ve seen all that I have, you'll know acting when you see it. It’s good acting, I’ll give her that, but it’s acting nonetheless.” Carmilla tells her.   
Laura looks at her and frowns, “But why would she, and I’m not saying that she is or that I’m agreeing with you, but let’s say you’re right, why would she be acting?”  
Carmilla looks at her as if she can’t believe she has to say it, “Because she killed her roommate. Now the questions we have to figure out are why and how.”

End of Video


	7. Investigating

Carmilla looks at her as if she can’t believe she has to say it, “Because she killed her roommate. Now the questions we have to figure out are why and how.”

1/21/15  
“What?” Laura says and then repeats herself, “What? No, Gwen didn’t kill her roommate that’s…” She’s cut off when the door bursts open and Kirsch and Phil walk in.  
“Little nerd…, I mean Laura, are you okay?” Kirsch asks.  
“Oh god, not you again.” Carmilla says with a scowl.  
“Uh hey Kirsch, yeah we’re okay.” Laura says.  
“We heard there was screaming and that some little lady got you know…” Kirsch says and then makes the finger going across the throat gesture with sound effects, “So, since I’m still your dudescort and I know you live here I thought I’d check in. This is Phil by the way.”   
“Sup.” Phil says.  
“Hi, yeah I know, we met already.” Laura replies and then turns back to Kirsch, “We’re fine Kirsch. It’s nice of you to check in, but we’re all good here.”  
“Are you sure?” Kirsch asks, “Cause I know you guys like to do the whole Frederick Holmes…  
“Sherlock Holmes.” Laura interrupts, “You mean Sherlock Holmes.”  
“Right yeah, that guy. I know you like to do that kind of thing. So if you, you know, need anything ladies, know that you have me and the Zetas behind you.” He says and then thinks, “Uh, I didn’t mean that in any kind of sex way, I swear…unless you want…”  
“Get out.” Carmilla snarls.   
“Right, yeah, okay. Sorry.” Kirsch says as he steps backwards away from Carmilla, “But yeah, if you need anything, know us bros are here to help you out.”  
“Yeah, totally.” Phil adds.  
They then walk out the door.   
Laura lays her head down onto her desk, “This school, goddammit.”   
“You decided to come back here. Against your better judgment I think, although at this point I’m not sure you have that.” Carmilla says.  
“Hey.” Laura says, insulted.  
“Oh honey, don’t you know that I find your lack of common sense and you’re nonexistent desire for self-preservation endearing?” Carmilla asks with a grin.  
“That didn’t make it much better.” Laura says.  
“But it did make it a little better?” Carmilla asks.  
“Yeah.” Laura says and then she stares blankly at the camera in front of her, “I think it just hit me about what I agreed to, with helping Gwen.” She places her head back down onto the desk, “So much for a nice normal semester.”  
“Alright, I think it’s time for you to rest. It’s been a hell of day and little Lois Lanes need their sleep to able to successfully Lois Lane the next day.” Carmilla says, helping Laura out of her chair and to her feet.  
“Did you just use Lois Lane as a verb?” Laura asks and Carmilla shrugs. Laura then moans as Carmilla walks her to her bed, “I mean, why did it have to happen now?”   
“I know.” Carmilla says.  
“I mean, the semester just started.” Laura whines.  
“I know.”  
“Can’t we have one week of peace?” Laura asks as she gets into bed.  
Carmilla chuckles and says, “No, not at Silas you can’t.”  
“Why did I agree to help again?” Laura asks.  
“Because you’re a very good person who cares about people.” Carmilla says and kisses Laura on the forehead.  
“Oh right, that.” Laura says, rolling over in bed, she then lifts her head and turns to Carmilla, “We can figure this out, can’t we?”  
Carmilla smiles and gets into bed next to Laura, “We took down an elder god like monster last semester, I think we can handle some heart stealing creature.”  
Laura nods and lies back down, “Right. We can do this.”  
“We can do this.” Carmilla says reassuringly and hugs Laura closer.  
Laura smiles, “Goodnight.”  
“Goodnight Cupcake.”

 

Cut to the next day

Laura sits at her desk in front of the camera. Behind her in the room are Danny, Gwen, and Carmilla. Danny is sitting on Laura’s bed, staring at the floor. Gwen is sitting on the floor, leaning up against the wardrobe at the back of the room, an acoustic guitar in hand as she nervously strums and quietly hums to herself. And Carmilla is sitting on her own bed, alternating between reading, looking at Laura, and shooting annoyed looks at Gwen on the floor.  
“So, hi everyone.” Laura says to the camera and the others look up as she speaks, “We’re getting ready for our brain storming session to figure out what happened with Gwen’s roommate. We’re just waiting for LaFontaine and Perry to arrive. Then maybe we can start piecing things together.”  
Gwen starts singing softly to herself as she strums along on the guitar.  
Laura then distinctly hears the words murdered and splatter. Danny turns to Gwen, “Uh…what are you playing?”  
Gwen looks up, seeming to realize suddenly that she was singing out loud.  
“Oh, uh, I song I wrote…about what happened.” Gwen says.  
“You wrote a song?” Danny asks.  
“About what happened?” Laura asks.  
Gwen hesitates, “Uh..yes? I sing and write songs when I’m nervous or stressed. It helps me cope with things.”  
“Let’s hear it!” Laura says enthusiastically and she hears Carmilla groan.   
Gwen hesitates again, “Well…it’s not done or anything…but alright.”  
She strums soft and slow on the guitar, the tune is somewhat sad.  
Then she begins to sing in a soft, lilting voice. The song starts off somber and a bit dry and biting in certain sections, but the chorus is a mix of both gloomy and hopeful.

Going to college was supposed to be fun  
Meeting new people and getting drunk  
But that fun is gone, that fun is gone  
….Cause my roommate got murdered 

Walked into my room after class  
Found her lying there, yeah she’d passed  
Blood on the floor, splatter on the walls  
….Cause my roommate got murdered

And no one will help us  
No one will come to our aid  
So I guess it’s up to us   
Try not to be afraid  
The police won’t come here  
The private investigators flee  
So I guess it’s up to us  
It’s just you and me

She’s about to begin the next verse when LaFontaine and Perry come through the door. Gwen quickly puts down her guitar, hoping to not have to start again. She’s saved by the two walking in as they begin to talk.   
“Sorry we’re late everyone.” Perry apologizes, “One of LaFontaine’s experiments exploded green foam all over the room and then nearly burned the building down.”  
“Oh, you’re exaggerating. It was a little fire. Besides, it wouldn’t have exploded if you hadn’t moved it Perr.” LaFontaine says as they come in and sit down, “I told you it was delicate.”  
“It was beginning to bubble before I even touched it, besides it was taking up so much room on the desk and I had to clean. I could see dust moats forming. Dust moats!” Perry says, “I don’t even know what you were trying to do with that anyway.”  
“I was trying to make fire suppressant foam.” LaFontaine says, “Cause you know sometimes when I’m doing experiments things light on fire.”  
“Sometimes?” Perry asks.  
“Okay, all the time.” LaFontaine says.  
“Wait, if you were trying to make fire suppressant foam, how did you almost burn the building down?” Laura asks.  
“Because LaFontaine’s supposed fire suppressant foam wasn’t so much fire suppressant as it was a...I don’t know…an accelerant!” Perry says getting agitated.   
“So you’re saying in an attempt to make fire suppressant foam, you actually made flammable foam?” Gwen asks, “That takes talent.”  
“What can I say, I’m good with fire.” LaFontaine adds with a shrug.  
“No, you will not be flippant about this.” Perry says.  
“Sorry Perr.” LaFontaine says, rubbing a hand across the back of their neck.  
“Thank you.” Perry says.  
LaFontaine then looks up and grins, “But the fire did burn ten times hotter than a normal fire and lasted five times longer than it normally would have. So I think that’s a win.”  
Perry puts a hand to her face and sighs, “I’m going to die in a fire someday, I just know it.”  
“Ok, not to quash what is a truly fascinating conversation.” Carmilla says sarcastically, “But we have more pressing matters than nerdlinger over here making a mess. The sooner we solve whatever the hell is going on, the sooner you all get out of my room.”  
“Well on that note, let’s start then guys.” Laura says, “What do we know so far? What did you guys find in the room?”  
“Like I suspected, the room was wiped clean when we got back. The body, the blood, any evidence was all gone.” LaFontaine says.  
“The room was spotless.” Perry says, “Unlike ours.”  
LaFontaine shoots her a look, “Yes, anyway. I looked through the place thoroughly. They did an excellent job of making sure there was nothing left.”  
“Well that’s irritating, not unexpected, but irritating nonetheless.” Laura says, “Ok, so we’ll have to work with what we’ve got. You got blood samples didn’t you?”   
“Yeah. I’m still running tests, so that should all be done by Mondayish. We’ll know more about who or what attacked her then.” LaFontaine says.  
“Okay, so I guess maybe we should lay this out. Walk through the whole thing. See if we can’t tease something out.” Laura says and then looks to Gwen who has stopped singing and continued to quietly strum her guitar, “If you’re up for it.”  
Gwen looks up at her, then looks at the others, Danny nods at her in support, and then she sighs and places the guitar down on the ground. She looks at Laura, “Alright, let’s do this. Ask me what you want to know.”  
“Alright well, uh, tell us about your roommate. What do you know about her? Was there anyone who would want to hurt her?” Laura asks.  
“Her name was Martina Hernandez. She grew up in Venezuela on a farm. Her family was poor and neither of her parents had made it past eighth grade. They wanted a better life for her, but couldn’t afford to send her to college. Then she got a letter from Silas offering her a scholarship. It was a dream come true. She was an education major. All she wanted to do was teach little kids how to read and write and maybe give them a bright future like she had gotten.” Gwen says, her voice cracking a bit, “She was a nice girl. Sure she listened to Taylor Swift nonstop and also had a terrible singing voice which didn’t prevent her from singing Shake It Off at the top of her lungs and dancing around the room at random times. Sure she had an unnatural obsession with romantic comedies and I would have to console her at least once a day as she erupted into sobbing fits over this guy or that guy. Sure she loved hello kitty so much that everything from her bed spread to her toothbrush was covered in the character. She had her annoying quirks, hell don’t we all, but she was a nice girl. I mean, she was naïve and innocent and there were some days when I just wanted to wrap her up in a blanket and give her a cup of hot cocoa and just protect her from the world because the world is…well…I mean I guess we all know now. But she was also bubbly and friendly and nearly everyone who met her liked her. So if you’re asking me if she could have pissed someone off enough to do this or if she was involved in something dark and dangerous that got her killed, I…I just can’t imagine it.” Gwen says and then stands up and walks over to the camera, “And if any of her family or friends is watching this I wanted to say, I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry for your loss. She was a nice girl and she didn’t deserve this.”  
Carmilla looks like she’s about to gag and Laura shoots her a look that says, ‘Be more sensitive.’ Carmilla just shrugs and says to Gwen, “That’s all well and good Crosby, but her being a nice girl and all doesn’t really help us solve this.”  
“You asked me what I knew about her, I’m telling you.” Gwen replies, “I can’t help the fact that her life was rather mundane up until this point.”  
“So there was nothing off about her? Was she acting strangely in anyway the last few days or anything?” Danny asks.  
Gwen shrugged, “I mean she had the flu? No…wait, there was something. She was afraid of the dark.”  
“Gee, what a revelation. She was afraid of the dark.” Carmilla snarks, “This case has been blown wide open.” Gwen just glares at her.  
Laura frowns, but adds, “Despite the tone, she is right, I mean plenty of people are afraid of the dark.”  
“No, when I say she was afraid of the dark I mean she was deathly afraid of the dark.” Gwen says, “She had no night classes. She didn’t go outside in the dark unless she had to and even then she dragged me or one of her other friends along, plus like twelve flashlights. She couldn’t go to bed with the lights off. Most nights I or someone else had to be there at night otherwise she’d have a panic attack.”  
“And you didn’t think that was…a little strange?” LaFontaine asks, “Did you ever ask her why she was so afraid?”   
“Yeah, of course I thought it was strange, but I mean I didn’t want to like offend her or anything by pointing it out. She was kind of sensitive. And sure, I asked her. She said it was just some phobia or something, like something completely irrational that she always had. But now that I think about it, there was definitely something more there. Like whenever we were out in the dark or whatever she would like watch the shadows as if…I don’t know…”  
“As if what?” Laura asks.  
“As if she could see something in the dark that nobody else could.” Gwen finishes, “And sometimes she would jump away from something or stare into the shadows, like she was following something with her eyes.”  
“Holy Vashta Nerada.” Laura says.  
Gwen shrugs, “But I just thought, I don’t know that she had an active imagination or maybe that she was traumatized from something else or that maybe she was, maybe she…”   
“She didn’t have all her marbles.” Carmilla says and Gwen shrugs and nods.  
“But I mean, what if there actually was something out there that only she could see?” Gwen says, “Oh god, what if there was something after her and I didn’t even know. I just brushed it off like her being paranoid or neurotic or whatever, but what if there was something out there waiting to attack and it got to her...oh god.” Gwen puts her head in her hands.   
Laura pats Gwen on the back and says, “You couldn’t have known. I don’t think there was anything you could have done.”  
Gwen nods and says, “This is just all so surreal. I mean we’re talking about monsters in the shadows attacking someone and ripping their heart out. I didn’t know this kind of stuff even happened in real life.”  
“Welcome to Silas.” Carmilla says gruffly, staring intently at Gwen’s face as if looking for something.  
“So your roommate, Martina, let’s assume she could see something in the shadows. That there was something after her, I mean if that’s true that’s probably what killed her. So at least now we have somewhere to start.” LaFontaine says, “Gwen, you weren’t there when…it happened were you? Did you see anything?”  
Gwen shakes her head, “No, I was coming back from class. By the time I got there…she was already dead and whatever or whoever it was had left. I didn’t even realize anything was wrong until I unlocked the door and the smell just hit me in the face.”  
“Wait, you unlocked the door?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Yeah….” Gwen says, “Oh man, so whatever we’re dealing with can get through locked doors.”  
“So, we know it only comes out at night and hides in the shadows, can get through locked doors, and takes people’s hearts for whatever reason.” Laura says, “Does that sound familiar to any of you?” They all shake their heads, including Carmilla.   
“Alright then.” Laura continues, “Let’s do some research.”   
They each go onto their respective computers to begin the search. LaFontaine and Perry share LaFontaine’s laptop, Danny and Gwen share Danny’s, and Laura and Carmilla share Laura’s computer. They begin the long and tedious process of trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

End of video

1/22/15  
Four hours later the group looks exhausted as they all lay around, staring with dull eyes at their computer screens. Laura taps on her keyboard every once in a while and the page changes. She groans and everyone looks up from their work.  
“So, we’ve been doing research for the past several hours now and well, we’re got nothing. Or well, when I say we’ve got nothing. I mean there are plenty of creatures that almost fit the bill, but not quite. Like the Lamia, which seduces people and squeezes their hearts to drink their blood, but only seduces men.”  
“Or the Adze, which are vampiric fireflies that can turn into hunchbacked humans with sharp claws that rip people open and eat their hearts.” Danny says, “But would be pretty hard to miss getting into her room.”  
“Or a Daeva, which is a creature made of shadow that can most definitely sneak into rooms, but doesn’t seem to steal or eat hearts.” LaFontaine says.  
“Or the Aswang, a shape shifting, Filipino vampire that eats people’s hearts.” Gwen says, “I mean that could almost work. It could have tricked Martina into thinking it was someone she knew. So she let them in.”   
“Yeah, or it could be the succubus or incubus, a vampiric creature that uses seduction to gain the trust of a man or woman and then after sex rips their heart out.” Laura suggests, “She could have been seduced.”  
Danny chuckles, “Sounds like someone we know.” And Carmilla shoots her a look.  
“Gwen, was the door locked from the inside or outside?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Inside.” Gwen says.  
“See, those don’t work then. It explains how they got in the room, but not how they got out.” LaFontaine says.  
“Unless whatever it was could teleport or dematerialize or something.” Laura suggests.  
“Alright well, how do we find out if something can do that?” Gwen asks.  
“Depend on what kind of creature killed her, there could be marks.” Carmilla suggests, “It might indicate what we should be looking for.”  
“You took pictures, didn’t you?” Gwen asks pointing to LaFontaine.  
LaFontaine nods, “Yeah, maybe we’ll see something in there.”  
“We should also talk to people, see if someone was nearby when it happened. Maybe they saw someone entering the room or heard something.” Laura says.  
“Alright, well, why don’t Perry, Danny, and Gwen start going around and asking people if they saw or heard anything. You, Carmilla, and I can start going through the photos.” LaFontaine says.  
They all nod in agreement and separate into two groups. LaFontaine puts her flash drive in and then hesitates to open the files, “Uh, so this is going to be pretty graphic…so be ready.”  
They then open the files and the images from yesterday appear on the screen. Laura recoils back, LaFontaine makes a disgusted face, and Carmilla just scowls.  
“Okay…so this is going to be…scarring.” Laura says.  
“You don’t have to look if you don’t want to.” Carmilla says.  
Laura shakes her head, “No, I can do this. Let’s get through these pictures.” 

Half an hour later

“Okay, so I don’t see anything here. No marks that indicate anything, no goop on the floor or anything like that, it just looks like someone ripped her chest open.” LaFontaine says.  
“So the only way the creature could have gotten into or out of her room is if it could like teleport or dematerialize or whatever you want to call it.” Laura says, “Or it can lock and unlock doors.”  
“Unless someone else has a key to her room.” LaFontaine says.  
“You already know my opinion on this, Creampuff.” Carmilla comments to Laura.  
“Carm, come on. I still don’t see it.” Laura says.  
“What is she talking about?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Carmilla thinks that Gwen is faking all this distraught stuff and actually is the one who murdered Martina.” Laura says, “Which I think is a crazy idea.”  
LaFontaine thinks and then says, “Well…”  
“Well what?” Laura asks.  
“She does have a point.” LaFontaine says hesitantly.  
“What?” Laura says stunned.  
“I mean she can get in and out of the room no problem, so the door being locked isn’t a thing. And Martina obviously trusts her, she’s her roommate. Plus some people say she’s kind of weird and she transferred here.” LaFontaine says.  
“But that still wouldn’t explain how she got out of the room if it was locked from the inside.” Laura says.  
“She was lying.” Carmilla says, “We can’t trust anything she’s said. She could have just walked into the room, murdered her roommate, and then just pretended that she was shocked to find her roommate dead.”  
“It makes more sense than anything else we’ve come up with.” LaFontaine says, “I mean, what seems more plausible Laura, that we have some kind of dematerializing monster that eats people’s hearts or that Gwen killed her roommate and then made it seem like it was because of some monster?”  
“This is Silas, so that doesn’t preclude her from being a monster either.” Carmilla says.  
“If she is the killer this opens so many more options, I mean she could be anything. She could even be a vampire for all we know.” LaFontaine says.  
“She’s not a vampire.” Carmilla comments.  
“If she is the killer, then all we know is she’s super strong and steals hearts.” LaFontaine says.  
“And the whole shadow thing.” Laura comments, “Not that I think she is the killer or anything.”  
“Yeah, but she’s the one that told us that.” LaFontaine says, “She probably said that to send us down the wrong path.”  
Laura pauses and looks worried, maybe because she’s beginning to agree with them and she doesn’t want to. She glances between the both of them uncertain now, “You aren’t actually, really thinking that Gwen is the murderer.”  
Carmilla frowns, “All I know is I get that sense she’s hiding something. There’s something off.”  
LaFontaine shrugs, “It’s an option. I mean, we can’t just rule her out because we feel bad for her.”  
“Okay fine, I still don’t agree with you guys, but just in case…we should be careful what we say and do around her.” Laura tells them, “Now let’s get back to looking through the photos, see if we can’t find anything incriminating or evidence like.

End of Video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why have Gwen sing/play guitar? Because every party needs a bard right?  
> Sorry, D&D reference. Speaking of which, did anyone watch the new 2015 PAX East Acquisitions Incorporated session?   
> Yes? No? Maybe?   
> Anyway, let's get back to your regularly scheduled program...


	8. Library

1/22/15

“I still don’t see any marks or hints or anything.” Laura says, “Just lots of blood and cuts, but…ugh look at the poor girl. She’s absolutely terrified. Something was there. Something scared her, badly. I just wish we knew what.”  
“Her roommate.” Carmilla says.  
“Carmilla.” Laura practically scolds.  
Carmilla just shrugs and says, “There’s something off about the body.”  
They both turn and look at her and Laura asks, “What do you mean?”  
Carmilla frowns deeper, “I don’t know. Just, something I can’t quite figure out yet.”  
A few moments later the other three return.  
Laura, LaFontaine, and Carmilla turn around, Laura asks, “Anything guys?”  
“Not much.” Danny says with a shrug, “Nobody really saw or heard anything. The people next door on either side said they thought they heard some banging and whimpering, but I think they just assumed it was some sort of kinky sex thing and didn’t want to get involved.”  
“The only thing is…and I don’t want anyone jumping to any conclusions here, but…” Perry begins.  
“What? What is it?” LaFontaine asks and Carmilla looks up somewhat eagerly.  
“Someone did say they saw one of the Zetas go into the room around the time of…well Martina’s…passing.” Perry says. Carmilla now looks disappointed.  
“A Zeta? Which Zeta?” Laura asks.  
“The one that hangs out with Kirsch a lot, Phil.” Danny says.  
“Did she know Phil?” LaFontaine asks Gwen and Gwen nods.  
“Yeah, they were friends.” Gwen says.  
“Oh great. Kirsch’s new bro is an incubus, aswang, something or other.” Laura says shaking her head, “We’re going to have to kill another one of the poor guy’s bros. I don’t know if he can take it.”  
“That fool has terrible taste in friends.” Carmilla says.  
“Now, now, what did I say about jumping to conclusions.” Perry says, “We don’t know that Phil is anything other than a guy at the wrong place at the wrong time. We can’t go attacking someone without more proof than this.”  
“She’s right, besides we have no idea what he is anyway. We wouldn’t know how to stop him.” LaFontaine says.  
“How about you guys?” Danny asks, “Figure anything out?”  
LaFontaine shakes her head, “Nope, no marks, bites, footprints, or otherwise. Just a lot of blood and body matter. And of course the gaping hole in her chest.” They gesture to the photos which are still up on the screen and begins to flick through them, “So it seems unlikely that someone tricked her into letting them in. But Carmilla thinks the body looks weird or something though.”  
Gwen perks her head up suddenly and asks, “What do you mean weird?”  
Carmilla watches her carefully, “I don’t know. There’s something off that I can’t quite place.”  
“Hmm, that’s not particularly helpful.” Gwen comments.  
“Well, I’m sorry I’m not the plethora of useful information like you are. Do you have any insights perhaps something we should know?” Carmilla snaps.  
“Carm, relax, it’s okay. She didn’t mean anything by it.” Laura says.  
“Wait!” Danny says to LaFontaine who is still flipping through the photos and LaFontaine stops.  
“What?” They ask.  
“Go back like three pictures.” Danny says and LaFontaine does so. Gwen’s and Martina’s room is set up similarly to Laura’s and Carmilla’s. With two beds on either side of the room, thick headboard/dresser behind them, and a wardrobe between the door and the window. Martina’s bed was where Laura’s bed is. And most of the pictures show that side of the room. However, a few of LaFontaine’s shots had gotten the rest of the room, and one of them showed a corner of the window.  
“Look, there.” Danny says and everyone looks at the screen.  
“I don’t know what we’re looking for.” LaFontaine says.  
“The window.” Danny says, “It’s open.”  
“So what?” Carmilla asks.  
“So, what are those marks on the windowsill?” Danny asks.  
“Those look like little claw marks or something.” LaFontaine says, “The thing climbed out of her window.”  
“The window! Of course the window!” Laura shouts and smacks herself in the forehead, “How did we not think of the window? How did we think of teleportation before we thought of climbing out the window?”  
“It’s Silas man, it affects us.” LaFontaine says.  
“Plus, we’re three stories up.” Danny says, “It’s not my first thought that someone climbs out a window three stories up.”  
“It’s not impossible though.” LaFontaine says, “Even for a regular person, although I doubt we’re dealing with a regular person. There’s still the whole punch through the chest thing and the claw marks on the windowsill.”  
“So, what are we saying? Phil, or someone that looked like Phil tricked Martina into letting him into her room, killed her, and then climbed out her window?” Gwen asks.  
“Or came in through her window.” Laura says, “And then left.”  
“Or flew.” LaFontaine says and they all look at them, “What? It’s possible. Like a third of the stuff I read about heart stealing monsters had them able to fly.”  
“They make a good point.” Danny says, “If we assume the creature climbed…or flew out the window, that opens up a whole lot more options.”  
“And now we have claw marks, so we know whatever it was had claws.” Laura says.  
“So it could be the Aswang vampire thing.” LaFontaine says, “Or the succubus/incubus.”  
“Or the Gumiho, the nine tailed fox that can shape shift and steals hearts.” Laura suggests.  
“Or the Stikini, which can shape shift and eats people’s hearts, and can also turn into an owl.” Danny says, “It could have flown out the window like LaFontaine said.”  
“Or a werewolf.” Carmilla suggests.  
“What? A werewolf?” Gwen asks, “I thought werewolves just, you know, turned into wolves during the full moon and like, could bite people or whatever. I’ve never heard of werewolves stealing hearts.”  
“They do. The heart is the favorite part for werewolves.” Carmilla says.  
“Was it even a full moon on Thursday?” Laura asks.  
Carmilla smirks, “Contrary to popular belief and what myths and legends tell you, werewolves do not have to wait for the full moon to turn. They can turn whenever they choose. Although, they must turn on the full moon, they have no choice.”  
“Wait, so werewolves are real?” Perry asks and Carmilla nods.  
“You’ve met real werewolves?” LaFontaine asks, “That is so cool! What were they like?”  
“Well, I’ve never met a werewolf, but my mother had many times. She often referred to them as mangy, rapid beasts with little more than the desire for human flesh. And that was if she was feeling particularly kind. They’re monsters.” Carmilla says.  
“Okay, so I guess we’ll add werewolf to the list.” Laura says.  
“None of those explain her fear of shadows though.” Gwen says.  
“If that’s even related to why she was killed.” Laura says with a shrug.  
“It’d be odd if it wasn’t.” Danny says, “Although, there are many people here with unique abilities. It’s possible she was targeted for that reason.”  
“So, we still have no idea what Phil is.” Laura says.  
“Or if he’s even guilty.” Perry comments.  
“Right, so do you guys know of any way to tell?” Laura asks and they all shake their heads.  
“We should go to the library, get some books on this stuff and start doing research.” LaFontaine suggests.  
“What kind of books would we even get on this stuff?” Gwen asks, “Demon shadows that steal hearts and how to defeat them? I mean, would the library even have any of that kind of stuff?” She looks at a room full of blank faces again, “What?”  
“Oh Gwen, you really are new aren’t you?” Danny says sympathetically, “Have you even been to the library yet?”  
“No…why?” Gwen says.  
“Well get ready, Nash, cause you’re about to get a crash course on what it means to go to this school.” Carmilla says.

End of video

1/22/15

“Wait, you want to go to the library now?” Perry asks, “It’s past eight.”  
“Well yeah, the stuff we’re looking for probably isn’t going to be there during the day.” Carmilla says.  
“But…but…” Perry begins.  
“She’s right you know. I mean, there might be some cursory stuff in some of the darker, danker sections during the day, but we’re looking for the truly nasty bits. A creature that only comes out in the dark and steals hearts, I don’t think we’re going to find anything about it when the sun is high in the sky.” LaFontaine says.  
“Is this a good idea though?” Danny says, “I mean, we should come up with some kind of plan or something first.”  
“Yeah, the plan is, get in, fight whatever is in our way, grab the books, and get out.” Carmilla says.  
“But we don’t even know what we’re looking for or even where to look. What are we supposed to do? Just grab everything?” Danny asks, “And I’d think that with your girlfriend standing right next to you, you’d want a better plan than ‘fight whatever is in our way’.”  
Carmilla stands up threateningly, “Do you think I can’t protect her?”  
Danny stands up to, towering over Carmilla, but Carmilla doesn’t seem threatened by it.  
“No, I think you’re being careless and I think your carelessness could get Laura killed.” Danny snaps back.  
Carmilla looks furious, “You better sit back down before I do something that I won’t regret, but you definitely will.”  
“Don’t threaten me, Drusilla.” Danny says.  
“Oh, you want to go again Wonder Woman? How did that turn out for you last time?” Carmilla snarls.  
“I’m ready for you this time, bloodsucker.” Danny counters.  
“Good, then maybe I won’t hold back.” Carmilla says and looks ready to lunge forward.  
“Ooookaaay!” Laura says stepping between them, “Let’s take this down a notch.”  
“Yes, let’s deescalate.” Perry says, “Everyone take a breath. We’re not here to fight one another, we’re here to work together. So come on you two, take a deep breath.” Perry breathes in deep, coaching them on what to do, neither of them do it. They both just continue to glare at one another. Perry let’s out the breath quickly, annoyed, “Come on you two, now! Take a deep breath.”  
Danny takes a breath, Carmilla just ignores Perry.  
“Carmilla.” Perry says.  
Carmilla reluctantly breaths in and out.  
“And again.” Perry says, coaching them once more. They both breathe in and out a couple more times, until they’ve calmed enough to sit back down.  
There is a long, awkward silence and then Gwen says, “So wait….are you a vampire?” She points to Carmilla and everyone just stares back at her, “What?” She asks.

Cut to later.

Everyone is in the room, but it looks they’ve been through a harrowing ordeal. Laura sits at her computer once again, with a cut above her eyebrow dripping blood down her face, a large bruise on her cheekbone, her hair a mess, her shirt ripped, and patches of dirt in random places. Carmilla is sitting next to her, tending to Laura’s wounds with a wet cloth and Laura winces and sucks in air every once in a while. Carmilla looks the best out of the bunch, although her shirt is also ripped and she as a few bruises here and there. Danny and Gwen both have small burn marks as well as singed clothing and hair. They’re both sitting on Laura’s bed, somewhat dazed. LaFontaine and Perry stand in the back, with LaFontaine looks somewhat queasy, their complexion somewhat greenish and Perry tending to them. Perry herself has a scrape mark along the right side of her face.  
Laura looks at the camera, “So we went to the library and it was well…the library. But before we go, we ask JP if he knows of anything that could fit the sort of monster we’re looking for or if there are any books we should looks for. He doesn’t know about the monster, but he does give us some books we should check out. And then warns us not to go to the library and tells us it’s a really bad idea.”  
“Because it was a bad idea.” Danny says and Carmilla shoots her a look.  
Laura continues, “But I mean, we had to go, we really had no choice. So we arm ourselves with whatever we have on hand and prepare for our trek into the lower sections of the library, which is where JP said the books we’re looking for should be. We get down there and it’s dark, like pitch dark. We brought flashlights, but they barely pierce the darkness. This darkness seems to be almost like a special type of darkness. So we can barely see, at least those of us without night vision.” She looks over at Carmilla and then continues, “So we’re walking along and then suddenly both Carmilla and Gwen grab me.”  
“Because there was a deep chasm that suddenly opened up in front of us or well, maybe it was there and we just didn’t see it.” Danny says.  
“Yeah and I almost stepped off into it. I mean, I didn’t even see it.” Laura says, “I don’t know how you guys did. I mean, I guess I know how Carmilla could see it, but not you Gwen.”  
“You don’t have night vision, do you?” LaFontaine asks, trying not to sound accusatory.  
They all look at her and Gwen laughs, “No, I don’t have night vision. I just happened to shine my flashlight on it and it was just…you know darker than even the rest of the dark, so I figure it was probably not something you wanted to step into.”  
“That’s some pretty fast thinking there.” Carmilla says skeptically.  
Gwen seems to take that as a compliment, “Thanks.”  
“So, we make it past the chasm and the whole place is like a labyrinth, sans David Bowie, and we’re walking along when suddenly I turn around and realize that it’s just Carmilla and I.” Laura says, “So I start looking around confused and Carmilla starts looking around and we can’t find anyone else. And we look back down the hallway and it seems…different.”

End of video


	9. The Angry Books

1/22/15

The group is still gathered around in the same places they were before. The video continues from where it last left off.   
Perry speaks now, “And LaFontaine and I are walking along and we experience the same thing. One moment we’re with the group and the next it’s just the two of us and the hallway seems like a different one than the one we were in before. Like we made a wrong turn and got separated from the group.”  
“Except we didn’t make any turns.” LaFontaine adds with some difficulty, still looking sick.   
“And it happens to Gwen and I too.” Danny says, “We just suddenly are by ourselves.”  
“So we’re looking around for the others and also looking around for the books, because we’ve now entered an area with bookshelves when we heard this rattling noise…I don’t know how to describe it.” Laura says, “And Carmilla whips around and shoves me out of the way just in time as a skeleton, legit skeleton with a saber attacks us. The skeleton swings its sword, but she dodged it and then punched it so hard, bits of it turn to dust. But it wasn’t the only one, five more pop up and we’re now fighting for our lives in this little alcove full of books. We manage to get out and grab two of the volumes JP recommended.” Laura says, “But the others haven’t made it out yet. So we’re thinking about going back in for them.”  
“You were thinking of it.” Carmilla adds.  
“Yes, I was thinking of going back in.” Laura says, “When Perry comes out, propping up LaFontaine on her shoulder as LaFontaine stumbles out of the library.”  
“After we had gotten separated, LaFontaine and I wandered around for a bit trying to see if we could find anything familiar.” Perry says, “We end up in a long hallway with lots of…well how to I put this…”  
“Angry looking books.” LaFontaine says and gags a little, “Oh man, I think I’m going to be sick again.”  
“Here honey.” Perry says and brings the garbage can over so LaFontaine can throw up in it, “So the hallway is full of as LaFontaine puts it, ‘angry books’, and we just get this terrible feeling coming off them. Which LaFontaine immediately thinks means we should look at them because what we’re looking for is probably in there.”  
LaFontaine stops throwing up and looks up at her, “Hey, I was right.”  
“Yes, you were right, but you also managed to make yourself sick, so I’m not sure you should be patting yourself on the back.” Perry says and LaFontaine frowns and then begins throwing up again. Perry begins to rub soothing circles on their back, “So we walk over to the books, not touching them, just sort of perusing them, walking down the aisle trying to find any of the volumes we need when LaFontaine suddenly whips around, sprints to the other side of the hallway and grabs a large, black tome with glowing green lettering. I try and tell them to stop, but they don’t listen to me.”  
LaFontaine stops throwing up again and adds, “I don’t know what happened. All I remember was looking at the books and then I hear this voice in my head. And suddenly I have this overwhelming desire to grab that book off the shelf. After that, I don’t remember anything until you dragging me out of the library.”  
“They grab the book and there is this big gust of wind that pushes me back and I go flying across the floor, which is where I got this scrape mark.” Perry says, pointing to her face, “Dungeon tile is not very soft.”  
“Sorry about that.” LaFontaine says looking sheepish.  
“Don’t worry honey, you were being possessed by a demonic book, it happens.” Perry says and everyone looks at her as if she had just sprouted a second head, “What?”  
“Nothing Perr, keep going.” LaFontaine says.  
Perry nods and continues, “I then look at LaFontaine and their eyes are glowing green and they have this awful smile on their face and they speak, but it isn’t their voice, it’s someone else’s. It’s dark and sinister and they say, “Finally, I can be free. Finally I have a vessel that will allow me to walk the world once more. Finally I can wreak my revenge upon this mortal plane and….” Perry says.  
“And that’s when you hit me in the head with the baseball bat right?” LaFontaine asks, rubbing the back of their head.  
Perry hands them another ice pack and says, “I’m so sorry honey, I just didn’t know what to do.”  
“It’s cool. You were totally badass.” LaFontaine says.  
“After hitting them in the back of the head, they stumble forward and drop the book on the ground and then they collapse onto the ground themselves, not moving. And I think…I thought that I’d…I just…” Perry says looking distraught.  
“Hey Perr, it’s okay. I’m here. You saved me.” LaFontaine tells her reassuringly.  
And Perry nods, “So yes, they’re on the ground and I hear them moan and I’m relieved, but worried. I help them to their feet and their eyes are no longer glowing green and they seem like themselves. So I start helping them out of the library, but they seem, nauseous, sick like the book did something to them.”  
“Yeah, that’s when I start remembering again. I remember walking with Perry and feeling really ill.” LaFontaine says, “I ended up throwing up three times on the way out of the library.”  
“But it’s getting better? Right?” Perry asks.  
“Yes, it’s slowly fading.” LaFontaine tells her.  
“Good, good.” Perry says, “So I help them out and as we’re walking I notice one of the volumes we need. So I gingerly pick it up, hoping not to be possessed, which I wasn’t and then we find our way out of the library and meet up with Laura and Carmilla.”  
“But Danny and Gwen aren’t out yet and we’re starting to get worried because it’s been almost half an hour.” Laura says, “And then they come sprinting out of the library, a ball of fire right on their heels.” The group looks at Danny and Gwen.  
“We fought a dragon.” Danny says.


	10. And the dragon slayers

“At least we think it was a dragon.” Gwen adds.  
“Yeah, yeah, I’m pretty sure it was a dragon.” Danny says laughing, “Either way, I’m saying we slayed a dragon because that sounds way cooler.” Gwen nods and Danny continues, “So like we said before, we got separated from the group. We start looking for everyone and shouting for people, but no one is there. So we figure the best way to help the others is to find the way out ourselves. Plus, we had those books to pick up.”  
“We walk through the library and it starts getting really warm. We both start sweating and there is this glow that appears every once in a while at the end of the hallway, behind the only door. So we walk over to it and inside we see a very large several stories high room filled with books.” Gwen says.  
“We walk inside and start looking around and we find two of the volumes we were looking for when suddenly I realize that there are quite a few books strewn about on the lowest level.” Danny says.  
“Yeah, she points it out and we look down at it from the second level and realize they’re not just randomly thrown about, it looks like a nest.” Gwen says.  
“A big nest. So we decide that anything that needs a nest that big probably shouldn’t be messed with. So we’re going to leave when a burst of flame shoots out from the corner of the room and across the doorway, blocking our path.” Danny says, “So I draw my axe and Gwen takes out the sword I lent her and we start looking around for whatever it is. Gwen then spots the dragon lurking in the shadows and we both dodge another jet of flame.”  
“The dragon then lunges out from its corner and it’s this large black creature. It moves with a quick fluidity, that’s both graceful and terrifying to watch.” Gwen says, “It lunges out and goes for us with these sharp fangs. We manage to avoid its teeth though.”  
“Then, it swings its tail around and Gwen sees it before I do and she pushes me out of the way, but she gets nailed by it, hard.” Danny says looking at Gwen concerned.  
“Yeah, I went ragdoll across the room. Hit a bookshelf, got covered in books. It wasn’t fun.” Gwen says, rubbing her shoulder as if it’s sore.  
“And you’re sure you’re okay? Cause a blow like that, I mean I thought you were dead.” Danny says.  
“I’m going to have some nasty bruises, that’s for sure.” Gwen says placing a hand on her ribs, “And I may have a minor concussion. But I think I’ll be okay. Oof, this fighting monsters business is rough work.”  
“I’m glad you’re okay.” Danny says.  
Carmilla watches Gwen closely and says, “Sounds like it was quite a hit.”   
Danny nods, “It was.”  
“And you just have a few bruises? That seems…lucky.” Carmilla says.  
“It was.” Gwen says, her eyes shifting to Carmilla, now herself searching for something in Carmilla’s gaze. The room goes quiet for several seconds as everyone seems to sense the tension. Danny looks at the two of them confused, but just shrugs it off.  
“Well, anyway, Gwen was lucky, but she did get knocked out for a good minute or so.” Danny says.  
“Leaving just Danny with the dragon.” Gwen frowns.  
“The dragon turns on me and I take a swing at it with my axe and I cut it across its face and it rears back in anger. And we fight. I spend the next minute dodging claws and teeth and tail and fire as the dragon throws everything it’s got at me. While I’m trying to land blows without getting creamed.”  
“I bet it was awesome.” Gwen says and Laura nods in agreement. Carmilla just frowns.  
“I probably looked ridiculous flailing about to be honest.” Danny says, “But I felt pretty badass or I would have if I wasn’t afraid of dying. So, I’m feeling pretty tired at this point, but I know I have the thing on the ropes, if I can just land a good blow to the neck or head I could take it down. But sweat is dripping down my forehead and I’m breathing hard. The dragon takes a swing at me with its claws and misses, but it also swings at me with its tail and I don’t see it and it knocks my feet out from under me and I hit the ground hard. My axe skitters away from me and I try to reach for it, but I have to dodge another claw attack. So I roll away from my axe and then, I’m on my back staring up at the dragon as it rears up, opening its giant mouth and I see fire building up inside and I just know that this is it. I’m going to die here. The dragon is about to breathe fire when I hear this shout and suddenly Gwen launches herself from the ground and wraps her arms around the dragons’ neck. And the dragon shoots fire, but she pulls its head away from me and towards the ground and the fire misses me. And she pulls it down to its side and while it’s distracted I rush for my axe. And I run over as Gwen has grappled it to the ground and the dragon is flailing about, knocking her all over the place, but she has her feet dug into the ground holding it around the neck, trying to keep it there. And then I come at it with my axe and she holds it down while I hack away and then it’s over.”  
“Or so we think. We pick up our books and start to leave when we hear a popping sound and we turn to see the dragon’s body swelling up.” Gwen says, “So we begin to run because we have a feeling we know what’s about to happen.”  
“And it does.” Danny says, “That dragons explodes into a huge ball of fire and so we sprint down the hallway as fast as we can with the fire ranging behind us. And we make it out just as the fire roars behind us.”  
“And we collapse on the ground, laughing like idiots because we don’t know what else to do.” Gwen says, “Because I mean, we just took on a dragon.”  
Danny grins at Gwen, “Gwen, that was the bravest, strongest, most idiotic thing I’ve ever seen anyone do. You thought it was a good idea to put a dragon in a headlock.”  
“Strongest, yeah. Very strong.” Carmilla says, but mostly to herself.  
“Well I couldn’t let it roast you.” Gwen says, “And I lost my sword. It was the first thing I thought of.”  
“You’re crazy.” Danny says and nudges Gwen with an elbow.   
“So are you.” Gwen says nudging her back, “Taking on a dragon by yourself with an axe. Crazy.”  
“But thanks for having my back.” Danny says.  
“No problem.” Gwen says with a shrug.  
“Right….” Laura says, “Uh.. so we got the books guys! Yay!”  
A moment later Kirsch bursts through the door. Kirsch looks around at the state of the girls concerned. Everyone looks sort of stunned to see him.   
“Yo, ladies, I was going to invite you to the Zeta party going on back at our house because I always enjoy your guys awesome sexy company, but I’m thinking something big is going down. You ladies look like you’ve already gotten wasted.” Kirsch says.  
“Hey Kirsch, yeah, thanks.” Laura says, “We’re probably going to skip the party for today, it’s been a long day. But thanks.”  
“Hey, is there something new going down? Does it have to do with that poor little hottie who got all dead down the hall?” Kirsch asks.  
“Yeah it does.” Gwen says sharply, “Her name was Martina and she was murdered. Know anything about that Zeta?”  
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, uh…blond hottie, I didn’t mean anything by it.” Kirsch says, “I’m sorry that your friend died. It’s so not cool when that happens. I know. But I don’t know anything about how she died.”  
Gwen seems to calm down some, but she does add, “My name is Gwen.”  
“Yes, it does have to do with Martina’s death.” Laura says, “Like Gwen said, she was murdered and we’re trying to figure out why and how.”  
“Oh man, do you have any suspects?” Kirsch asks.  
Everyone looks around the room, not really sure if they should say or not. Kirsch may be kind of an dufus, but he’s not completely stupid. He could tell something was off by the way they were looking at one another.  
“What’s with the faces?” Kirsch asks, “You don’t think it’s me or something do you? Cause you should know as a Zeta it’s by responsibility to protect hotties, not kill them.”  
“No Kirsch, we don’t think it’s you, but we do think it’s another one of the Zetas.” Laura says.  
“What? No way.” Kirsch says, “No. My bros are good guys this time. I swear. Not like last time.”  
“Kirsch, we’re sorry.” Danny says, “We don’t know for sure yet anyway.”  
“Well, who do you suspect?” Kirsch asks.  
“Phil.” LaFontaine says.  
“What, Phil? But he’s my bro. He’s such a good guy.” Kirsch says.  
“Look, it doesn’t mean anything yet, but just be careful around him, okay?” Laura says.  
“Alright.” Kirsch says somewhat seriously, “That’s for looking out for me ladies. Have fun…doing whatever it is you ladies do together.” He leaves with a smile and a wave. Carmilla rolls her eyes. 

End of video


	11. The Change Up

2/2/15

Laura, Carmilla, LaFontaine and Gwen sit in Laura’s room. Laura is once again at her desk in front of the camera. Gwen is sitting with her back against the wardrobe again, fiddling with her guitar. This time strumming out a hard, quick beat. Carmilla is lounging on her bed with one of the books from the library in her hands, but she isn’t reading it, instead she’s just sitting there glaring at Gwen. LaFontaine is on Laura’s bed, with their own book.   
“So, we’ve looked through the books pretty thoroughly now.” Laura says, “And if you’re wondering where Danny and Perry are. Perry is in class and Danny is dealing with some kind of hallucinogenic marshmallow problem from the Summer Society’s campout over the weekend. I don’t know what that’s all about, but she says she has it in hand. Anyway, we’ve decided to take a bit of a break and I’ll update you on the goings on. So we have three possible choices for our monster. Behind door number one…” Laura holds up her finger a door appears on the screen, “We have the incubus.” A picture of an incubus appears on the screen where the door was, “A demon that appears in the form of a man who seduces women, sleeps with them to feed upon their sexual energy, and then rips their hearts out. And if that isn’t a metaphor for unhealthy relationships, I don’t know what is. Now behind door number two…” She holds up her finger again and another door appears on the screen, “We have the werewolf…” the picture of the door is replaced by one of a werewolf, “which according to Carmilla and now backed up by these books, is a creature which can shape shift into a wolf at any time and has a tendency to eat people and find the heart the tastiest bit. And last, but not least behind door number three…” A third door appears, “Is the Aswang, which is essentially the Filipino version of a vampire, with some minor differences, like they can shape shift into any person. So that’s it folks for Let’s Make Deal, monster edition. Now we know how to kill all these beasties. An incubus needs to be banished using a particular exorcism, the details written here in this book.” Laura indicates the book in front of her, “For werewolves, it seems while certain aspects of the myth were wrong, the whole silver to the heart thing is the best way to kill them. That or dismemberment. And for the Aswang, well conventional means of killing a vampire will kill it as well. So holy water, stake through the heart, and garlic all work. Also apparently a whip made entirely of a stingray’s tail will do the trick as well.” Laura says and then turns to Carmilla, “Would a whip made of a stingray’s tail kill you?”  
Carmilla smirks, “I don’t know cutie, I’ve never had the pleasure of being on that end of the whip. But if you’d like to try…”  
“Oh god, could you not.” LaFontaine says, “Not while I’m here please, thank you.”  
“I second that.” Gwen says, raising her hand.  
“Well nobody asked you Garfunkel.” Carmilla snaps.  
“Whoa, whoa, easy now.” Gwen says to Carmilla who glares at her, “Here, I wrote you a song, maybe that’ll make you, feel better. It’s a little rough, so don’t laugh.” She clears her throat and begins to strum a jaunty, sort of campfire song like tune on her guitar. Then in a nice, but overly cheerful singing voice she begins.  
“I’m over three hundred years old and I like to wear all black  
I like to drink people’s blood and you might end up my snack  
Sarcasm is always on my lips and I laugh at others pain  
If I don’t eat you, don’t you worry, I’ll just show you my disdain.”

The lyrics sound like she just thought them up five minutes ago, which she may very well have. The strumming pattern is complex and upbeat, but kind of hokey. However, nobody can deny that she does have a nice singing voice, even if she’s singing it in a goofy manner.

“My girlfriend is super sweet, even though I’m just a huge grump  
All I talk about when I’m around other people, is how much I want to…”

Carmilla had seemed stunned at first. Not expecting outright mockery, but as soon as Gwen got to the second verse her eyes go from being wide and surprised to furious. She leaps forward, almost too fast to see, and pulls the guitar out of Gwen’s hands, stopping her midverse. The force of the pull, snaps the guitar’s strap across Gwen’s back as Carmilla yanks it away. Laura and Fontaine move forward next to Carmilla, afraid she’s going to smash the guitar over Gwen’s head.  
Carmilla hasn’t said anything since she’s pulled the guitar away, she’s just standing there glaring at Gwen, looking like she’s trying to control herself from killing the girl.  
Laura walks up to her and puts a hand on her shoulder, “Carm…”  
Carmilla visibly relaxes and then says in a dangerously low voice to Gwen, “Do anything like that again and I’ll be feeding you this guitar. Got it.”  
Gwen nods quietly and stares up at Carmilla, frightened.   
“Good.” Carmilla says with a smirk and then turns to Laura, handing Laura the guitar, “Now I believe you were discussing how we were going to kill our resident monster.” She then walks over to her bed and sits down as if nothing had happened. Everyone else just stands there staring at one another quietly until Carmilla clears her throat. Then LaFontaine scurries back onto Laura’s bed, Laura hands Gwen her guitar back and sits back down at her desk, and Gwen just puts her guitar down, and lifts up one of the books.   
“Oookaaay.” Laura says to the camera, “Anyway, we know how to kill these monsters, but what we don’t know is which one Phil is. But we think we’ve got a plan to figure it out.”  
LaFontaine nods and comes forward, “So the books have ways to test if a person you suspect is a monster. For most demons, including the incubus, it’s salt. For the werewolf, you guessed it, its silver, and for the Aswang it’s a particular oil made by medicine men. Which on this campus actually shouldn’t be too hard to come by. Each of these cause a sort of burning, blistering reaction when it comes in contact with the creature’s skin.”  
“Now we just have to figure out how to get these in contact with Phil’s skin without him knowing.” Laura says.  
“We could mix them in some water and maybe spill it on him?” LaFontaine offers, “Although we’d have to spill three separate things on him to see which one he reacted to, since they all kind of have the same effect.”  
“Yeah, cause that’s not suspicious.” Carmilla says.  
“Well I don’t hear you coming up with any ideas.” LaFontaine counters.  
“What about that stupid campus wide snowball fight the Zetas are throwing next week.” Carmilla says, “Would that work?”  
Everyone pauses and thinks about it for a minute and then realizes that it just might.  
“So you’re saying we make snowballs, fill them with the stuff, and then throw them at him during the fight and see what happens?” LaFontaine asks and Carmilla shrugs, “Well alright then. Let’s do that.”  
“Ok, so before the snowball fight we need to get salt, liquid silver, and that oil.” Laura says, “Plus we need someone with a good arm and good aim.” She looks over at Carmilla.  
Carmilla shakes her head, “I’m not going out into a crazy Zeta snowball fight. Have Dr. Frankenstein or the Mamas and Papas over here do it.”  
“I don’t have the best arm.” LaFontaine says.  
“Neither do I.” Gwen says, “I played soccer, not softball.”  
“I suppose we could get Danny to do it and possibly recruit Kirsch, I bet he’d be more than willing to help out.” Laura says.  
“Well then cupcake, there you go. Now we have a plan.” Carmilla says.  
“Alright.” Laura says somewhat cheerfully, “We have a plan. Next week during the snowball fight we’re going to nail Phil with some snowballs filled with our reagents and then we’ll figure out what he is and how to stop him.”

End of video

2/3/15

Laura sits at her desk with Danny, Perry, and Carmilla sitting behind her. Gwen and LaFontaine are not there. Carmilla as always is sitting on her bed, lounging around like a cat. Danny is sitting on Laura’s bed glaring at Carmilla. Perry is moving about the room, making cocoa.  
` “Ok, so we’ve picked up some salt.” Laura says and holds up a saltshaker, “We snagged it from the cafeteria, although I’m not sure that was the best idea because I’m pretty sure this thing has a mind of its own. I keep finding it in different places around the room until I tied it down.”  
“Oh honey, if it wants to move about you should let it. As long as it’s not causing any problems it should have its freedom.” Perry says as she walks by.   
Laura just rolls her eyes and continues, “Anyway, all we need to get is the liquid silver and some of that oil, both of which we need to get from the alchemy club, which is why most of the gang is here. Cause that’s going to be an ordeal all on its own. We’re just waiting for LaFontaine to get back with the test results from Martina’s blood. And Gwen isn’t here because she’s sick.”  
“I blame you for that.” Danny says, pointing to Carmilla.  
“Let’s not point fingers.” Perry says as she walks by.  
Carmilla looks up from the book she was reading and scowls, “It’s not my fault she can’t take a joke.”  
“A joke? A joke? You threatened to cram her guitar down her throat, not mention the fact that you broke the strap on it.” Danny says, “I fail to see how that was a joke.”  
“Oh, she told you about that did she? Did she send you here to fight her battles for her?” Carmilla snaps back.  
“I think she’s really sick Carm.” Laura says, “She wasn’t in lab today.”  
“Oh, then why isn’t jolly red over here taking care of her?” Carmilla asks.  
“I did take care of her.” Danny retorts, “But she wanted to be left alone to sleep.”  
“Hmm.” Carmilla says, “On this particularly suspicious day.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Danny asks, but before Carmilla can answer LaFontaine comes through the door.   
“Hey all.” They say and sit down next to Danny.   
“So, any word on the blood tests?” Laura asks.  
“Okay, so her blood seemed mostly normal. Everything was fine. Maybe a little too much glucose, but she was all healthy and normal otherwise.” LaFontaine says.  
“You said mostly normal.” Danny says.  
“Yeah, well there was one odd thing.” LaFontaine says, “She had several hundred mlU/ml of hCG in her blood.”  
“What’s hCG?” Carmilla asks.  
“It’s a pregnancy hormone, basically how doctors test if someone is pregnant.” LaFontaine says, “By what her blood says is that she was at least three to four weeks pregnant.”  
“Martina was pregnant?” Danny says, “Does that change anything? Weren’t there several monsters that preyed on pregnant women or fetuses?”  
“Yeah, but they all appeared in female form.” Laura says, “Phil’s a guy.”  
“Unless it wasn’t Phil.” Carmilla suggests and Laura knows exactly what she’s suggesting.  
“Then who would it be?” Danny asks and nobody says anything. She looks around the room somewhat confused, feeling like she’s out of the loop.  
“Okay, well we don’t know that her being pregnant changes anything. It could just be a coincidence.” Laura says, “I say we stick to our original plan and if that doesn’t work, well then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”  
“Right.” Danny agrees, “So to the alchemy club then.”  
“To the alchemy club!” Laura shouts.

Cut to later, after visiting the alchemy club.

The five of them all stand in silence in Laura’s room looking somewhat shell-shocked. There’s something off about all of them. Then Carmilla walks over to Laura’s desk and sits down at the computer. However, she doesn’t saunter over as she normally does when she walks, instead she has a sort of awkward, quicker gate, somewhat uncomfortable.   
She plops down in the chair ungracefully and just stares somewhat blankly at the computer, “So that didn’t go exactly as planned.” Carmilla says, but her voice isn’t as dark and dangerous sounding as usual, “I’m Laura by the way.” Laura says in Carmilla’s body. The others all just look at each other uncomfortable and then Laura’s body walk over to Laura.  
Laura’s body walks over and it’s almost with cat like grace. She grabs the stool and smoothly sits down next to her.  
“This is Carmilla.” Laura says indicating her own body and Carmilla in Laura gives an annoyed look to the camera, “So we get to the alchemy club and well, it’s exactly as you’d expect. Weird experiments going on, strange people hustling about. Sounds coming from the back rooms that don’t sound like…normal animal sounds. So we grab a ticket and wait in line. We’re there for about an hour when it’s our turn. We ask for what we need and we get it almost no problem, except Danny and Carmilla decide to get into another argument, which turns into a shoving match. Which turns into Danny falling into a table full of lab equipment, which equals a cloud of purple gas enveloping all of us and the predicament you see here.” Laura gestures to her body which is Carmilla’s sounding annoyed.  
“It wasn’t my fault.” Perry says, striding forward with confidence, “Carmilla pushed me into the table.” It’s now apparent this is Danny in Perry’s body.  
“You didn’t have to get into yet another argument!” Laura snaps at the both of them and they both look sheepish.   
“But at least we got the stuff we needed.” Danny’s body says where she sits on Laura’s bed. LaFontaine’s body starts to move nervously about the room and start cleaning.  
“This is so bizarre, so very bizarre.” LaFontaine’s body says, making it clear it’s Perry.  
“Hey, Perr. Relax, don’t tire my body out too much.” LaFontaine says in Danny, “You’re going to give me a tension headache.”  
“I’m sorry, but I clean when I’m nervous, no matter whose body I happen to be in.” Perry says busying herself around the room, “How long is this supposed to last anyway? We’re not…stuck like this are we?”  
“No, I asked the slightly annoyed alchemy club guy.” LaFontaine says, “It should only be like fifteen, sixteen hours. We’ll be back to normal by tomorrow. Until then I suppose we just wait it out.”  
“It’s getting late anyway, it’s…” Danny looks at her wrist where her watch would normally be and then remembers she’s not in her body, “Does anyone know the time?”  
“It’s…oh wow, we were out for a while. It’s nearly five in the morning. Wait, how can that be? We left for the alchemy club at like ten.” Laura says.  
“I think the purple stuff knocked us out for a while Cupcake.” Carmilla says giving Laura seductive eyes from Laura’s body.  
“Okay, that is just weird.” LaFontaine says and shakes their head.  
“Crap, five in the morning. I wonder what the others think happened to me.” Danny says, “Although I don’t think she’ll be expecting Perry.” She says gesturing to herself.  
“She’ll?” LaFontaine in Danny asks.  
“They’ll.” Danny corrects herself, “I don’t think they’ll be expecting this body.”  
“No funny business in my body!” Perry says somewhat suddenly.  
“What?” Danny asks confused.   
“I mean, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do as me…please.” Perry amends.  
Danny nods, “Of course not. Alright, I guess I’ll be seeing you all tomorrow. Be careful.”  
“Hey wait, do you need someone to walk with you?” Laura asks, “It’s late…or well early and you’re not…you?”  
Danny looks down at herself, “Oh right. No, I think I’ll be okay. I mean I may not be in my body, but I’m still a badass.” Carmilla rolls her eyes, “Oh and LaFontaine, please be careful as me.”  
LaFontaine nods, “I won’t do anything stupid, I promise.” Danny nods and then leaves, “We should probably be going too, try and get some sleep before classes tomorrow.” They stand up and look somewhat unbalanced, “Whoa, head rush. I feel like a giant. This is kinda cool.” They then begin to walk and slam their knee into the side of the bed and then slam their elbow into the wardrobe on the way out, “Shit. Shit. Ow. Okay, never mind this sucks. How does Danny move around without banging into everything? My limbs are too long.” They slam their elbow into the doorframe and wince, “Ouch. Ugh, Danny is going to have so many bruises. She’s going to kill me.”  
“Come on honey, let’s get you back to our dorm before you end up breaking poor Danny’s neck.” Perry says and ushers them out the door.  
“I don’t know, that sounds like it could be fun to watch.” Carmilla says to them as they leave and Perry shoots her a look.   
Laura sighs once the door shuts and rubs her temples.  
“You alright, Cutie?” Carmilla asks.  
“Okay, that’s just weird for you to say to me when I’m in your body.” Laura says.  
“What, you don’t think I’m cute?” Carmilla says with a smirk that looks out of place on Laura’s face, “Cause I think you’re adorable.” She gets up and twirls around.  
“How does it feel to be human after so long as a vampire?” Laura asks.  
Carmilla shrugs, “It is rather strange. Having a heart beating in my chest, I’d never thought I’d feel that ever again. And the warmth, humans are so very warm. But I also feel very small, very fragile. It’s disconcerting.”   
Laura shrugs, “It makes sense.” She frowns.  
“What’s on your mind?” Carmilla asks, walking back over to her.  
“I wish you’d be nicer to Gwen.” Laura says, “I think you really scared her the other day.”  
“Oh come on, I didn’t scare her.” Carmilla says, “She was…”  
“Pretending?” Laura finishes, “I know, I know, you keep saying that, but I just don’t see it.” Laura then gets up and stands in front of Carmilla, “Could you be nicer to her? For me?”  
“What do you want me to do? Bake her a cake?” Carmilla asks.  
“No, but she has been sick. If she comes by tomorrow, I don’t know, maybe make her some tea?” Laura suggests, “As a sort of peace offering?”  
Carmilla scowls and then sighs, “Fine.”  
Laura beams, giving a bright smile that looks weird on Carmilla’s face and then wraps Carmilla up in an almost legitimately bone crushing hug. All the air leaves Carmilla’s lungs and she can’t breathe, she feels like she’s being broken in half.  
“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Laura says and Carmilla wheezes.  
“Laura.” Carmilla manages to gasp out and Laura suddenly realizes her mistake. She quickly let’s Carmilla go and Carmilla sucks in air.  
“Oh god, oh god, I’m so sorry.” Laura says and moves her hands as if to touch Carmilla, but then hesitates, not wanting to hurt her.  
Once she regains her breath Carmilla gives her a pained smile and says, “It’s alright, just remember you’re a lot stronger than you were before.”   
“Right.” Laura says, “Sorry.”  
“Well there goes my plans for tonight.” Carmilla says with a shrug.  
“Plans?” Laura asks and Carmilla shoots her a seductive wink in her own body. She didn’t think she could give a seductive wink. “Oh, you mean that. You wanted to have sex? In each other’s bodies?”  
“Of course.” Carmilla says, “Wouldn’t you want to know what it feels like to feel the others pleasures and pains? To feel what feels good for your lover so you know how to please them later? It’s a unique opportunity to explore each other in a whole new way. To feel ecstasy in a way we’ve never felt before and may never again. Wouldn’t you want to try it?”  
“Well, when you put it like that…” Laura says trailing off, her mind now wandering in that direction. She looks at Carmilla and suddenly feels an intense hunger. She can see the blood pumping in her own neck. She can feel the heat coming off her body. It’s making her drunk with the need to feed.  
“But it’s a bad idea. You’d probably kill me.” Carmilla says, not realizing her girlfriend has other things on her mind now. Laura ignores her and just stares at the carotid artery in her neck, pumping sweet blood just below the surface.  
Carmilla realizes Laura hasn’t said anything for a full minute and looks at her girlfriend, “Hey, are you listening to me?”   
Laura takes a predatory step forward and Carmilla realizes what is happening.  
“Uh…Laura.” Carmilla says taking a nervous step back, “I need you to focus. I need you to fight that feeling.”  
“I am so very hungry.” Laura says, “I feel like I haven’t eaten in days.”  
“Here, I’ll go get you something to eat from the fridge and you’ll start to feel more like yourself.” Carmilla says, taking a step towards the fridge.  
“No. Don’t move.” Laura snarls and Carmilla freezes.  
“Laura, honey, look at me, not at my neck. Look at me. Look into my eyes.” Carmilla says, realizing the dangerous situation she’s in right now, “Look at me. Focus. You are not a blood crazed monster, you’re in control. You have control. You just need to focus. Laura. Talk to me.”  
Laura then lunges forward with incredible speed and throws Carmilla back onto the bed with more force than she probably intended. Carmilla hits the bed with a thud and feels the wind knocked out of her once more. But before she can gain her breath Laura is on top of her in a flash, holding her down, eyes hungry, fangs heading for her throat.  
“Laura!” Carmilla yells, “Laura! It’s me! Come on! Fight this! You can fight this! Come on Laura! I love you!”   
Laura’s fangs are inches from Carmilla’s throat when she hesitates. She shakes her head as if coming out of a trance and then looks over at her own face, seeing Carmilla’s eyes wide with fear and concern. She blinks a few times and then launches herself off the bed, mortified.  
“Oh. My. God.” Laura says and then begins to shake. She collapses to the floor, clutching her knees to her chest, “Oh my god. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry. Oh my god. I almost…I almost…” She then begins to cry and Carmilla sits up from the bed and looks down at Laura in her own body crying. Carmilla can’t remember the last time she cried so much.  
Carmilla slinks off the bed and wraps her arms around Laura, “It’s okay. I’m okay. It’ll all be fine. Now that you’ve gotten control, I doubt you’ll lose it again. Come here, sweetheart. It’s okay.”   
They sit like that for a while with Laura sobbing and Carmilla hugging her close, rubbing soothing circles along her back.   
After a time Laura stops crying and she just sniffles every once in a while. She looks up at Carmilla and asks, “Did you mean it?”  
Carmilla looks at her confused, “Did I mean what?”  
“When you said you loved me? Did you mean it?” Laura asks.  
Carmilla smiles and nods, “Of course I meant it.”  
“I…I love you too.” Laura says, “I’m sorry I almost…”  
“No, sshhh, sshhh, it’s fine. You’ve apologized enough.” Carmilla says, “Just rest. I’ve got you.”

End of video

2/4/15

Laura sits in front of her computer with a cup of cocoa in front of her. She looks exhausted. Carmilla is actually asleep on her own bed behind her.  
“So we switched back into our bodies sometime around noon today. Fortunately I wasn’t in class or anything, so it wasn’t a big deal. One moment I was in one place, the next I was in another, but back in my own body of course.” Laura whispers to the camera and looks back at the sleeping Carmilla, “We were supposed to have a meet up today to sort of finalize our plan, but we were all pretty exhausted. Apparently swapping bodies can take a lot out of you, so we decided to move it until tomorrow. Which is good anyway because apparently Gwen was pretty tired this morning too, still sick I think. Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say, also be careful in the alchemy club headquarters. Because who knows what kind of stuff they have lying around.” 

 

End of video


	12. A Splash of Silver

2/5/15

Laura sits at the computer with the rest of the gang behind her; everyone is there, Carmilla, Danny, LaFontaine, Perry, and Gwen. Danny and Gwen are sitting on Laura’s bed. LaFontaine is sitting on a stool next to Laura with Perry standing behind them and Carmilla is lying across her bed.  
“I can’t believe you all swapped bodies.” Gwen says, “That must have been something to see.”  
“Let’s just say, it’s good to be me again.” Danny says and then adds, “No offense Perry.”  
Perry shrugs, “None taken. I understand.”  
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Nothing dear, just that I like being me.” Perry says.  
“I think we can all agree that as interesting as it was being in someone else’s body, we all prefer our own.” Laura says.  
“Here, here.” Danny says with a nod.  
“It was weird having you come back to check on me, but in Perry’s body.” Gwen says, “Especially sick and all, I was totally confused.”  
“Speaking of which, how are you feeling.” Danny says putting her hand to Gwen’s forehead, “Feverish? Sore? Tired?”  
“Ah, stop fussing. I’m fine.” Gwen says brushing Danny’s hand aside.  
Laura looks over at Carmilla and clears her throat as if to say, do something. Carmilla doesn’t move.  
“I took care of you, yesterday, remember?” Gwen asks, “You dropped like a rock after that switch back.”  
“I’m just making sure. You still seem a little warm.” Danny says.  
Laura shoots Carmilla another look. Carmilla rolls her eyes and gets up, “Here Gwen, let me make you some tea.” She says it very mechanically though, as if reading from a script. Everyone looks at her completely baffled. Laura just smacks her hand to her forehead as Carmilla starts to make Gwen tea.  
“So we have all the ingredients or reagents or whatever you want to call them.” LaFontaine says, “We have a suspect. Oh wait, Gwen, did Danny fill you in on the whole Martina thing?”   
“Her being pregnant? Yeah I had no idea.” Gwen says shaking her head, “I would have never thought. She never mentioned it.”  
“Well, she wasn’t that far in, so there wouldn’t really have been any obvious signs.” LaFontaine says.  
“Yeah, but I guess we decided that doesn’t change anything?” Gwen asks.  
“For now.” Laura says, “Unless you have another idea?”  
Gwen shakes her head, “What we have is as good as anything I’ve come up with.” Carmilla walks over with the tea and hands it to her. She looks up at Carmilla and says, “Thanks.” Taking the tea gingerly as it’s still hot. Carmilla just grumbles to herself and flops back down onto the bed.  
“And did you guys all know the plan about the snowballs right?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Yeah, we still have to ask Kirsch to help us out.” Danny says.  
“That shouldn’t be too hard; he follows you guys around like a puppy. Especially you.” Gwen says indicating Laura and taking a sip of her tea.  
“So just to go over it again and we’ll probably go over it at least once more before the day, but…” Laura begins, but doesn’t finish as Gwen cries out. She doubles over, clutching her stomach, and falling to the floor.  
“Did you…did you…poison me?” She gasps out her eyes wide with surprise as she stares at Carmilla.  
Then several things happen at once.  
“What!?” Danny says leaping to her feet, torn between helping Gwen on the floor and taking out Carmilla. Perry rushes to Gwen’s side, as Laura and LaFontaine stare at each other for a moment and then Laura looks over at Carmilla confused. But Carmilla isn’t looking at her.  
Carmilla instead is looking at Gwen with a mix of delight, anger, and pride at her success, “I knew it!” She growls and lunges at Gwen before anyone can stop her. She grabs Gwen by the shoulders, lifting her off the ground and slams her up against the wardrobe at the back of the room with a loud thunk. The whole wardrobe rattles, knocking things off the top and causing the doors to somewhat splinter.   
“I knew you were behind this.” Carmilla hisses.  
“Carmilla!” Laura gasps.  
Danny and LaFontaine leap forward to pull Carmilla off Gwen, but before they can something surprising happens.  
Gwen grabs Carmilla by her shoulders and spins her around with more strength than she should possess and slams her up against the wardrobe now. It shaking again and splintering even further.  
“Me!” Gwen shouts back, “You’re a freaking vampire! You have the exact same qualities as the Aswang! If anyone should be accusing anyone of anything it should be me!” She snarls and the sound rips through the entire room.  
Carmilla and Gwen now struggle for control, both equally strong and both equally determined. Everyone else in the room just stands there, stunned, not knowing what to do.  
The two break apart for a moment and then lunge at each other once more. Carmilla gets some leverage and manages to slam Gwen up against the fridge in between her bed and the window. As everyone can now see Gwen’s face, they gasp. As they see it’s partially transformed. Her eyes are yellow, she bares her teeth to show huge fangs, and her brow and nose have started to protrude. She snarls again as the two wrestle one another.   
“Gwen.” Danny says in such a soft, unsure voice very uncharacteristic of her.  
Gwen loses focus for a second and spots Danny. She can see the hurt and surprise on her face. Carmilla takes this opportunity to strike Gwen across the face. She reals sideways, but grabs Carmilla, dragging her with her. They both fall towards the window, smashing through it, and falling out and down the three stories to the ground below.   
“Carmilla!” Laura shouts in panic.  
“Gwen!” Danny shouts equally afraid.  
“Shit!” LaFontaine shouts.  
“Oh my god!” Perry shouts.  
They all rush to the window.

End of video


	13. What now?

2/5/15

“Shit, shit, shit.” LaFontaine repeats over and over as they rush to the window, everyone else is silent. Everyone looks down and out the window, afraid of what they might see. But surpringsly or perhaps they shouldn’t be so surprised, Carmilla and Gwen are both alive and still fighting below them.  
“We have to get down there and stop her.” Laura says.  
“Stop them.” Danny corrects.  
“Right, them.” Laura says shaking her head, “How do we stop…Gwen?”  
“What even is she?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Silver! Get silver you knuckleheads!” Carmilla shouts from below still trading blows.  
“Get garlic!” Gwen shouts, “She’s the one behind this! She’s the Aswang!”  
“So she’s a werewolf?” LaFontaine says and then smacks herself in the forehead, “Tuesday was a full moon, no wonder she was sick.”  
“Do we have the silver? Where’s the silver?” Laura asks.  
“We should get some garlic too. Just in case.” Danny says.  
“You don’t really think Carmilla is the one behind Martina’s murder? Do you?” Laura asks.  
“She could be. We don’t know.” Danny says, “You can’t just assume its Gwen.”  
“Gwen’s been lying to us this whole time!” Laura shouts.  
“Whole time! It’s been like two weeks! Carmilla lied to you for months last year!” Danny shouts back.  
“She was Martina’s roommate! It makes more sense!” Laura shouts.  
“Guys!” LaFontaine shouts over them, “Shut up! This is not the time to argue. Come on!” They grab the vial of silver that was on the desk and the four of them race downstairs.

Cut to twenty minutes later.

A sense of déjà vu is present as Gwen sits tied to a chair, sitting in between a mass of bruised and tired bodies. There are some differences of course. For one, she has several blisters and burn marks on her face where it looks like she was splashed with silver. She also wears a silver necklace around her neck.  
There is also a less triumphant feeling in the room. Danny sits at the end of Laura’s bed near the door, staring glumly out the broken window. LaFontaine and Perry stand near one another, nervously huddling close. Laura sits on a stool next to Gwen, frowning at the floor. The only one who seems happy is Carmilla, who is sitting on the end of her bed with a smirk on her face.  
Laura sighs and looks at the camera, “Werewolf captured.” She then peels off the duct tape over Gwen’s mouth, not with gusto this time, “So Gwen, why did you do it? Why did you kill your roommate?”  
Gwen frowns, “I didn’t kill her. I swear. If you should be pointing fingers at anyone, it’s the bloodsucker over there. She’s the one that probably did it.”  
Carmilla scoffs, “You’re really going to try that? Placing the blame on me. I didn’t do it. We all know you did.”  
“But I didn’t!” Gwen shouts in indignation.  
“Did you really think you could get away with it?” Carmilla asks, “I should have known right away you were a werewolf. Should have smelled that rank stench of dog right on you.”  
“I didn’t do it. You guys have to believe me.” Gwen says.  
“I mean, it is kind of suspicious.” LaFontaine says, “You’re a werewolf, they eat hearts. I mean you wouldn’t have even had to trick her into letting you in. You’re obviously strong enough. And all that shadows and darkness nonsense could have been to send us down the wrong path.”  
“I don’t eat hearts.” Gwen says, “Not all werewolves eat hearts. Only the bad ones. I don’t even eat people at all.”  
“Yes, but honey, how are we supposed to believe you? Are we just supposed to take your word for it?” Perry asks, “You’ve been lying to us for weeks now.”  
Gwen sighs and her head sags, “I’m sorry.”  
Danny finally looks over and speaks, her voice is hard, but also full of hurt, “Why didn’t you tell me?”  
Gwen tries to look over at her, but she can’t turn herself that far around still tied to the chair. Instead she just speaks over her shoulder, “I’m sorry. I like you Danny, I really do. But I’ve only know you for barely two weeks. Am I supposed to reveal all my deepest darkest secrets to you after only two weeks? I wanted to tell you, I really did, but I was afraid. I was afraid what it would look like if you found out. For all the reasons you’ve said. She was my roommate and I’m a werewolf, we have a reputation. Especially after you started suspecting werewolves as one of the creatures. I just…I couldn’t.”  
“You could have told me.” Danny says, pain in her voice and Gwen flinches at the sound.  
“I know you guys have no reason to believe me.” Gwen says, “But I swear, I didn’t do this.”  
They’re all quiet for a very long time. No one says anything, no one is sure what to do.  
“What do we do now?” LaFontaine asks. 

End of video

2/5/15  
The room is silent again for a very long time.  
Then Gwen asks, “Are you going to kill me?”  
“No, no, no, no, no, of course not. We’re not going to kill you.” Perry says and looks around the room to confirm her statement, when she sees uncertain faces she frowns, “We’re not going to kill her, are we?”  
“I mean, that was the plan wasn’t it?” LaFontaine asks, “We find the monster and slay it.” But they don’t seem too sure now.  
“We can’t just kill her though. Do we even have the right? She’s a person.” Perry says.  
“Oh, so when it was some random monster you were okay with it, but now that we know the monster, not so much?” Carmilla asks bitingly.  
“Well I’m sorry if I don’t feel comfortable killing someone we’ve considered a friend for the past few weeks.” Perry snaps back.  
Carmilla just shakes her head and then turns to Laura, “Laura, we had a plan. We’ve successfully completed the first part of that plan.” She looks at Laura, but Laura isn’t meeting her eyes.  
Carmilla scowls, “Fine then, if no one else will do it.” She gets up to retrieve a stake dipping it in silver.  
Danny stands up, “I won’t let you kill her.”  
“We all know you have a thing for her, but don’t let that cloud your judgment Lawrence.” Carmilla snaps and grabs the silver coated stake.  
She holds the stake over Gwen’s chest and is about to kill her when Danny shouts, “Wait!” And grabs her arm.  
Carmilla whips around and glares at Danny, “Oh come off it. Stop pretending like you’re the noble hero. You know what needs to be done more than anyone else.”  
Danny shakes her head, “I can’t just let you kill her. She saved my life once. I’m returning the favor. Besides the fact that in all honesty we only have circumstantial evidence. Nothing solid. She makes a prime suspect, but we don’t actually know.”  
Carmilla rolls her eyes, “Oh god, you’ve lost your resolve jolly red. She’s put you under her spell.”  
“It’s not like we didn’t give you a chance, Carmilla.” Danny counters.  
“Please, you wanted to stake me two seconds after you found out I was a vampire.” Carmilla replies.  
“Yeah, but we still gave you a chance.” Danny says, “We don’t know she did it. And in my book, that means we don’t have the right to kill her until we do.”  
“I agree.” LaFontaine says, “As much as the evidence is stacked against her, if there is a chance she is innocent, I don’t want that blood on my hands.”  
“I was against killing her anyway.” Perry says.  
They all look at Laura who hasn’t said anything for the past few minutes, she looks up and nods, “Yeah, we should find more conclusive proof.”  
Carmilla scowls, “This is a mistake. We should kill her right now before she gets free and kills us all.”  
“Why are you so eager to kill her Carmilla?” Danny asks, “Afraid we’ll find her innocent and turn our attention to you?”  
“Don’t even start with me.” Carmilla says turning on Danny, “I’ll agree to figure out for sure that she killed her roommate. But when I do figure it out, and I will, I will not hesitate to stake her.”  
“Alright, so I suppose we have a new plan gentle viewers.” Laura says to the camera, “Figure out why and how and I suppose if Gwen killed her roommate.”  
“While I get to sit here tied to this chair, completely innocent with silver burning into my throat.” Gwen adds.  
Carmilla smacks her across the back of the head, “Shut up!”  
“Ow, no need to be so violent Carmilla.” Gwen says wincing, “You should really work on your anger management skills.”  
Carmilla scowls even further, “You have a death wish, don’t you?”  
“Well you’ve already made up your mind about killing me, haven’t you? Might as well go out with some dignity.” Gwen replies, “I’m not going to ask someone to feed me like a child.”  
“I am going to enjoy stabbing you in the chest.” Carmilla snarls out.  
“Yeah well, it’s the only way you could kill me anyway, while I’m tied to this chair.” Gwen says to her.  
“I beat your ass before. That’s why you’re here isn’t it?” Carmilla says with a smirk.  
“Only because you poisoned me beforehand. I was weak. You caught me off guard. You couldn’t beat me in a fair fight.” Gwen says.  
“If you think this nonsense is going to work on me, you are truly an idiot.” Carmilla says.  
“Sounds to me like you’re just afraid.” Gwen says.  
“Ha, afraid of you?” Carmilla replies, “Not likely. You’re a mangy mutt in people skin.”  
“Yeah, well you’re just a leech in human form, bloodsucker.” Gwen snaps, “A cowardly leech who is too afraid to take on the big bad wolf.”  
“That’s it!” Carmilla says and lunges for Gwen. Everyone else, grabs for Carmilla attempting to pull her away.  
“Carmilla! That’s enough! Carm, stop it! She’s just trying to get to you!” Laura says as she attempts to drag her girlfriend away from throttling Gwen.  
While their efforts are essentially futile since Carmilla is far stronger than all of them combined, she does slowly calm down enough to regain her composure.  
Once she’s calm enough she sighs and says to Laura, “Sorry about that, Cupcake. She just gets under my skin like no one else, not even Wonder Woman over here.” She indicates Danny who frowns.  
“Yeah, well I’m not too fond of you…” Gwen starts, but is cut off as Lafontaine puts the tape back over her mouth. She glares at LaFontaine.  
“Sorry Gwen, but this is for your own good.” LaFontaine says.  
“So what’s the plan?” Carmilla asks Laura, “You want to make sure she’s the killer, how do we go about figuring that out?”  
Laura frowns, “Well, we’ll probably need to interrogate her. And go through all the evidence again. Maybe look through her room, see if we can’t find anything of hers…” Laura is interrupted though by a scream that tears through the building. Someone is shouting the words, “oh my god.” Over and over again.  
“Holy crap, what now?” Laura says, “Like we can seriously not tie anyone up in this room anymore. It’s like bad luck or something.”  
“Should we go…” LaFontaine says indicating the door.  
“Yeah, let’s go check it.” Laura says with an exasperated sigh and they all head for the door.  
“Wait, someone needs to stay here with Gwen.” LaFontaine says.  
“I can stay.” Carmilla offers, but everyone immediately shuts that idea down.  
“I’ll stay.” Perry says and goes to sit down on the stool next to Gwen. Everyone else nods and heads out the door, leaving Perry alone with Gwen.  
Perry sort of sits there nervously, drumming her fingers on her leg, and fidgeting every once in a while. Gwen just watches her out of the corner of her eye.  
After about five minutes of silence Perry stands up and says, “Can I get you anything, dear?” She then remembers Gwen’s mouth is still covered, “Oh, hold on.” She gently removes it and then waits for an answer.  
Gwen shakes her head, “No, but thank you Perry. I’ll just sit here and wait for my fate.”  
“If you really are innocent, then you don’t have anything to worry about.” Perry says.  
“Yeah, except for the fact that apparently just being a monster is enough to be tied to a chair with burning silver splashed across your face. I came to this school to get away from discrimination, not face more of it.” Gwen says.  
“Ooh, does it hurt a lot?” Perry asks, seeing the wounds on Gwen’s face, “Here, let me tend to those for you.” She gets up and grabs the first aid kit. She comes back.  
“Hell yeah it hurts. It’s like getting scalding water splashed onto you. Plus this necklace burns like fire.” Gwen says, “My skin is itching so badly right now.”  
“Well I’m not going to remove the necklace for you.” Perry says and pulls out some burn cream, some wet wipes, and some bandages.  
“I figured.” Gwen says and flinches as Perry goes to clean the wounds.  
“I thought you said you came here after you’d lost your athletic scholarship?” Perry asking, continuing to clean her wounds.  
“I lied about that too. My injury isn’t from playing soccer. I took a bite to the knee from another werewolf, one who wasn’t so much on the good side. It happened over the summer. I was jogging through the woods in the nearby nature preserve. I was getting into shape for soccer, I didn’t lie about that. I did play soccer for Duke. It was getting late, so I decided to take a cut through I’d used many times before. Faster, but a bit more secluded. I remember hearing heavy footsteps and panting behind me. I had my stun gun on me, so I pulled that out and began to look through the darkness to try and spot whoever was after me. Then this huge wolf leaps out of the trees at me. Before I can react it’s got my leg clamped between its teeth. Its tearing up my leg and dragging me back into the woods. I scream and stun it and the wolf goes down for a few seconds, but gets back up faster than I expected. I start trying to get away, but my leg is a mess and I’m bleeding out all over the place. I start to pass out and the last thing I hear is a gunshot and some voices. I wake up a day later in the hospital. At the time I thought I’d just gotten bitten by a really big wolf. That is until the first full moon when I turned. I tried to go to Duke for a while, but I found it really hard to hide who I was there. And I was afraid I would accidentally hurt someone. I told my parents and we talked to someone who’s an expert on this kind of stuff. We were trying to find a cure, but there is none. He recommended I go to a school where people like me are more accepted, where they can help me handle my problems. That’s how I ended up at Silas. But then my third week of classes my roommate gets murdered and I had to go right back to hiding who I was. And now I’m here, the major suspect in her case, when all I wanted to do was have a relatively normal semester and just try and deal with…my condition.” Gwen tells her and winces again as she begins to apply the burn cream, “And I used to really like silver. I had a lovely necklace my grandmother gave me before she passed that was made of silver and I can’t even wear it anymore.”  
Perry looks at her sympathetically. She feels bad for her, but she isn’t quite sure she should believe her.  
“So…you’re a new werewolf. You weren’t born this way?” Perry asks.  
Gwen shakes her head, “No. All of this monster stuff is new to me. A year ago if you had asked me about werewolves and vampires I would have thought you had a twilight obsession or were insane.”  
“I’m sorry that all this happened to you.” Perry says and applies the bandages, “How does that feel?”  
“Better.” Gwen tells her.  
“Good, that’s good.” Perry says quietly. They sit in silence for another five minutes before the rest of the group comes back in again.

End of video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, we're sort of, almost, not really all that close to the end. Not even close.


	14. On the right track

2/5/15  
Laura sits in front of the camera with LaFontaine. Carmilla is on her bed. Danny is on Laura’s bed, sitting next to Gwen who is still tied to the chair. Perry isn’t there.  
Gwen is softly singing to herself.

Just found out two girls have been killed here  
And the whole campus is in a state of fear  
Even though I’m not the killer, I swear  
I’m still tied to this stupid chair  
I should have just gone to community college

This earns her a smack on the back of the head from Carmilla, “Shut up!” She yells and Gwen quiets. Laura turns to the Camera and sighs, “So we have another murder on our hands. Same MO. Huge hole in the chest, heart missing.”  
“But this time we’ve got something else.” LaFontaine says, “The creature went out through the window again. But it left a trail of this ooze.” They hold up a vial of clear liquid, “I’m going to run some tests on it. And on the girl’s blood. Hopefully that should shed some light on what’s doing this.”  
“We asked the roommate what happened.” Laura says, “She was the one who found her roommate dead. She was the one who had been screaming. But she had no idea. She wasn’t there when it happened. She did say her roommate was sick though beforehand, like she had the flu. Maybe the creature goes after people with weakened immune systems?”  
“Or maybe she was also pregnant. Sometimes pregnancy symptoms can seem flu like.” LaFontaine says.  
Laura nods, “Yeah, we asked her if her roommate had been behaving strangely beforehand, like the whole shadows thing, but she said her roommate wasn’t afraid of the dark or anything like that. She did say she thought her roommate could read minds, but that was irrelevant. And kind of disturbing if you think about it. But the kicker, the real interesting bit, is that when we asked around to see if anyone saw anything. Guess who someone said they saw go into her room right before she was murdered? You guessed right, Phil.”  
“Oh and if you’re wondering where Perry is, she’s out being he floor don self. Helping out the roommate as well as anyone else who’s been traumatized by this.” LaFontaine says.  
“At least I didn’t throw up this time.” Laura says, “Although I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I think I might be becoming numb to this kind of stuff.”  
“That’s a good thing. Can’t have you hurling every time you see a dead body, especially if you keep investigating stuff like this.” Carmilla says.  
“Does this mean that we’re not suspecting Gwen anymore?” Danny asks from behind them and they all turn to look at her.  
“Oh no, we’re still suspecting her.” Carmilla says, “Although your stock does seem to be dropping in that area.” She says to Gwen, “Doesn’t mean she’s still not involved somehow.”  
“So, can I untie her then?” Danny asks and they all look at each other uncertain, “Oh come on, you left Carmilla untied even after she admitted to luring girls to their demise for centuries. Gwen hasn’t even killed anyone as far as we know.”  
“She does have a point.” LaFontaine says, “I mean, we’ve trusted people with far less reason to.”  
Carmilla scowls, “You can release her.” She then turns to glare at Gwen, “But if you lay a finger on Laura or anyone of these other knuckleheads, don’t think I won’t hesitate to rip your throat out.”  
“Aww, Carmilla, I didn’t know you cared.” LaFontaine says with a smirk.  
Carmilla turns and glares at them, “Never mind, you can kill that one.” And LaFontaine pretends to look hurt.  
Danny goes and unties Gwen. Then carefully removes the silver necklace from around her neck. All can see the raised red line that marks where the necklace was in contact with her skin. Gwen stretches and rubs her neck.  
She then turns to Danny, “Thanks.” Danny barely even looks at her; instead she just gets up and walks out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Gwen sighs and frowns.  
“So, do you guys think she’s mad?” Gwen asks and they don’t respond. She sighs again and then asks, “Am I free to leave?” The others think for a few moments and then Laura nods.  
Gwen gets up and races out the door after Danny, shouting her name.  
“Poor Danny. She hasn’t had the best luck with women lately, has she?” LaFontaine says.  
“Hey!” Laura says.  
“Oh come on, you’re not with her, are you?” LaFontaine says.  
“Fine, you’re right. I feel kind of bad for Gwen too, you know? She got a raw deal with the whole werewolf thing. I would be hesitant to tell people too.” Laura says.  
Carmilla groans, “Alright, if this pity party is over, shall we get back to what we’ve working on for the past few weeks. We have another murder, which means Martina wasn’t targeted specifically. We know the creature is eating and/or collecting hearts. And we think Phil might be the one behind this.”  
“So we go ahead with our original plan, we just need to talk to Kirsch.” Laura says.

Cut to later

Kirsch is sitting in the room with Laura, Carmilla, LaFontaine and Perry has returned.  
“So…you want me to like throw snowballs at Phil?” Kirsch asks, “And that’ll figure out if he’s like a monster or not?”  
“Yeah, just in case my ooze stuff doesn’t tell us what it is.” LaFontaine says holding up the vial with a smirk on their face. Kirsch makes face thinking it looks gross.  
Laura says, “Each snowball will be filled with something different and whichever one he reacts to, tells us what kind of monster he is. So you’ll have to throw them at different times.”  
“Okay, I mean I totally can do that, but I still think Phil is a total bro and wouldn’t do anything like eat girls or whatever.” Kirsch says, “This isn’t going to like kill him, is it?”  
“No, it’ll just sting a bit.” LaFontaine says.  
“Okay then, cool. Cool.” Kirsch says, “So you want to do this during like, the Zeta Snowball Bash? Are you guys going to come to that, cause that would be awesome.”  
“We’ll be there.” Laura says.  
“Cool.” Kirsh says, “So do you like need anything else? I’m sorry another girl got all dead. This is a major bummer. And whoever is behind this is going to pay, I’ll make sure of it.”  
“That’s it Kirsch, thanks.” Laura says and Kirsch nods his head.  
He gets up to leave, “Ok, later ladies.” He walks out the door.  
“Speaking of the stuff in the snowballs, we need to get more silver, since we essentially poured our entire batch onto Gwen.” LaFontaine says, “Which means another trip to the alchemy club.”  
“Ugh, those little weasels again.” Carmilla says with a scowl, “I could so without having to speak to them ever again.”  
“Plus, they probably already kind of hate us after the mess we made last time.” Laura says.  
“Hey, this is for a good cause. They should get that, right?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Let’s hope so.” Laura says, “So I guess we’ll head over there tomorrow?”  
They all nod.

End of video

2/6/15  
The room is dark, Laura and Carmilla are both asleep on Laura’s bed. The door slowly creaks open and then something rolls into the room. There’s a hissing noise and then smoke begins to fill the room.  
Carmilla sits up quickly and shakes Laura awake, “Laura! Get up!”  
Laura groggily awakens, “What Carm? What is it?”  
The room is filling rapidly with smoke and then the door bursts open like someone has kicked it in, but the smoke obscures them from sight. Carmilla leaps to her feet and Laura is awake instantly, reaching for a baseball bat by the bed. Whoever has crashed through into their room is joined by two others and all three quickly go after Carmilla. The sound of fighting can be heard and the grunts of people getting knocked around. One of them hits Carmilla across the face with a pole or metal rod and she reals back. They dive on top of her and there is the shadowy outline of one of them raising what appears to be stake in the air to plunge it into her heart. Laura then smacks that person with the bat across the head and he falls back with a thud. Carmilla leaps up and nails the two in front of her with punches to the chest and they fly back, one hitting the door, the other the wardrobe. There are groans of pain and then all three leap to their feet and attempt to flee out the door. Carmilla makes a move to go after them, but one of them throws down a flash bang grenade which goes off in the room with a loud burst of light and sound, blinding and deafening both Carmilla and Laura. By the time they recover the assailants are long gone.  
Laura drops to the ground, clutching her hands to her hears, her eyes squeezed shut. Carmilla stumbles around a bit and slams into her bed.  
“FUCK!” Carmilla shouts and blinks several times to try and regain her vision. After about twenty seconds or so her vision starts to come back although she’s still seeing spots here and there. Her hearing is slower in returning, and all she can really hear is a ringing. She turns to see Laura still on the ground, hands over her ears, eyes shut.  
Carmilla quickly rushes over to her and touches her arm. This startles Laura and she slowly opens her eyes to look at Carmilla, blinking repeatedly as her vision is returning.  
“Are you okay?” Carmilla asks, but the sound comes out muffled, like she’s speaking underwater and Laura gives her a confused look in return, telling Carmilla she can’t hear her.  
“I can’t hear anything!” Laura shouts at her, panic in her eyes, “Am I deaf? What’s going on?”  
Carmilla can barely hear Laura, but she makes out what she’s saying, and puts a hand to Laura’s cheek to quiet her. She then gets up and grabs a piece of paper and a pen. She begins to write and holds it up. The paper says, “You’re going to be fine. It’ll wear off in a few minutes. It was a flash bang grenade.”  
Laura reads it and then nods, she then turns to Carmilla, “Are you okay?” She asks.  
Carmilla nods and Laura lets out a sigh of relief. Laura is sitting on the floor leaning up against her own bed. Carmilla moves to sit next to her and wraps and arm around her shoulders. Laura rests her head on Carmilla’s shoulder. They sit like that for a while.  
Eventually Laura’s hearing begins to come back and she asks, “So, what in the name of Peggy Carter just happened?”  
“We got attacked by three dead guys.” Carmilla says.  
“Dead guys? Like zombies?” Laura asks wide eyed.  
Carmilla shakes her head, “No, guys I’m going to kill once I get my hands on them.”  
Laura laughs and then says, “This was about the girls getting murdered wasn’t it.”  
Carmilla nods, “Someone thinks we’re getting too close.”  
“That just means we’re doing something right.” Laura says slowly getting to her feet and wobbling a bit as she does so.  
“Whoa there Cupcake, your balance may be a bit off. Take it easy.” Carmilla says, getting to her own feet and helping Laura sit down.  
They sit there on the edge of the bed for a few seconds before they hear the far away sound of another flash bang going off and some screams.  
“What the hell?” Carmilla says.  
“Did that sound like Perry?” Laura asks, leaping to her feet and wishing she hadn’t as she stumbles.  
“Sit down, Creampuff. I’ll go check on the ginger twins.” Carmilla says and helps Laura sit down again. She then rushes out the door. Twenty minutes later Carmilla returns with LaFontaine and Perry.  
Laura looks up at her expectantly.  
“They’re fine. A little stunned, but fine.” Carmilla says, “But whoever attacked us, also just stole that vial of ooze.”  
LaFontaine and Perry sit down next to Laura on her bed, both rubbing their ears, both a bit unstable on their feet.  
“The ooze? Crap, that was our one clue to what this thing was!” Laura says, “How did they know we even had it?”  
Carmilla scowls, “My money is on Gwen. I still think she’s somehow involved.”  
LaFontaine shakes their head, “NO. I THINK THIS ONE IS MY FAULT GUYS.” They say, speaking louder than normal. Everyone turns to look at them.  
“I TOOK THE OOZE TO THE LAB TO DO SOME TESTS AND WAS TALKING TO ONE OF THE TA’S ABOUT IT. I HAD SOME QUESTIONS. BUT I WASN’T THE ONLY ONE IN THE LAB.” LaFontaine says.  
“Who was there?” Laura asks.  
“WHAT?” LaFontaine asks.  
“WHO WAS THERE?” Laura shouts.  
“OH! SOME OTHER STUDENTS, SOME CAMPUS SECURITY LOOKING GUYS, AND SOME ZETAS.” LaFontaine says, “ANY ONE OF THEM COULD HAVE OVERHEARD ME.”  
“Campus security guys? What were they doing in the lab?” Laura asks.  
Carmilla shrugs, “Probably enacting some evil plot put forth by the Dean that will affect this entire campus.” Laura looks at her with a frown, “What? It’s not like they were baking cookies.”  
Laura just shakes her head, “You said Zetas were there?”  
“WHAT?” LaFotnaine asks.  
“ZETAS! YOU SAID ZETAS WERE THERE?” Laura shouts again and Carmilla rolls her eyes.  
“YEAH! NOT PHIL, BUT OTHERS.” LaFontaine says, “THEY COULD HAVE TOLD PHIL. I MEAN WHOEVER ATTACKED US HAD ACCOMPLICES.”  
Laura nods, “Alright, well this is a setback, but we still have a plan. We should head to the alchemy club tomorrow…well today actually, but later today.” They all nod in agreement.

End of video


	15. A little too cheerful

2/9/15

Laura sits in front of the camera, her head in her hand. She doesn’t look beat up or bruised, just tired. LaFontaine and Perry sit in the background watching Carmilla with curiosity as she chugs a whole bag of blood as well as eating a whole box of cookies.  
“So we got the liquid silver from the alchemy club.” Laura says and Carmilla looks over at the camera with a huge grin, her face still stuffed with cookies.  
“We had to apologize a lot for last time. And promise to participate in a future experiment, although we added it couldn’t be life threatening or permanent. So that should be an ordeal.” Laura says, “But after that, they hand over the liquid silver and we’re about to leave scot free, when Carmilla decides to say something sarcastic to one of the club members.” Laura rolls her eyes exasperated, “Which brings us to this…” She gestures over to Carmilla who is now bouncing on her toes, almost as if she’s unable to contain her enthusiasm.  
“Oh my god, Laura, Laura, Laura, Laura.” Carmilla says in an overly enthusiastic voice and then rushes over to Laura excitedly, “I just ate twenty cookies in under a minute! Can you believe it! They were so good too. Cookies are sooo good!  
“She’s been like this since Friday.” Laura says with a sigh, “And at first it was kinda fun, cause she was super chipper and cheerful, which is so un-Carmilla like, but she has no off switch. She just keeps going. I just want my regular Carmilla back.” Laura pouts.  
Carmilla looks at Laura confused for a moment, “Are you sad Laura? You can’t be sad! There’s nothing to bed sad about!” She drags Laura to her feet and begins to do a goofy dance with her, “The world is amazing! It’s full of sunshine and love and rainbows and cute little animals! You can’t be sad Laura! Come on, twirl with me.” She begins to twirl around in place.  
“This is the weirdest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.” LaFontaine says, “And we fought a giant angler fish god demon.”  
“I am surprised I’m even saying this, but I do prefer the original Carmilla too. This one is so…” Perry begins.  
“Annoying.” LaFontaine finishes.  
“I was going to say trying, but sure, yes, that works.” Perry says, “Even I don’t have the energy to put up with her.”  
Carmilla has been ignoring their conversation and instead has leapt up onto her own bed and is bouncing up and down.  
“Laura, Laura, Laura, look at me!” Carmilla shouts, “Look at me!”  
“I’m looking Carmilla, I’m looking.” Laura says.  
“Look at how high I’m bouncing!” Carmilla shouts.  
“You’re bouncing very high.” Laura replies.  
“Come join me!” Carmilla says.  
“No thanks.” Laura says.  
“Aw come on! Spoil sport!” Carmilla says and then laughs like a loon, “Fine then. If you don’t want to bounce, do you want to have sex?”  
LaFontaine and Perry look at each other awkwardly and Laura just smacks her hand to her forehead.  
“Let’s have sex! Let’s have sex on your bed! Let’s have sex on my bed! Let’s have sex on the floor! Let’s have sex up against the door! Let’s have sex in LaFontaine and Perry’s room!” Carmilla says still bouncing.  
LaFontaine and Perry look incredibly uncomfortable.  
Laura just groans, “Carm, come on. We talked about this whole talking about sex in front of my friends.”  
“Right, right. But I just want to have sex so bad.” Carmilla says, “It’s amazing.”  
“Not to be judgmental or anything, but I was wondering when Carmilla was going to return to normal?” Perry asks politely, “Because I don’t think I can honestly take much more of this.”  
Laura sighs, “I sent Danny and Gwen to go to the alchemy club to get a cure. I thought it would wear off by now, but I guess not. I hope they have better luck with those guys than we did.”  
“You sent Danny and Gwen, together?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Yeah.” Laura says.  
“Even after their fight? Even after the screaming match they had in the cafeteria yesterday which turned into a food fight? Even after they got into a duel on the quad this morning?” LaFontaine says.  
“Yes.” Laura says uncertainty.  
“Ooh, you like to play with fire, don’t you?” LaFontaine asks and shakes their head, “What are you trying to do, get them back together? They were barely together to start with.”  
“Yes, but they could be so happy together.” Laura says, “Even after the whole finding out Gwen is a werewolf thing, I really think they’d be good for each other. And if they could just get past all the crap, they could see that.”  
“So you’re trying to play matchmaker.” LaFontaine asks.  
“I guess.” Laura says with a shrug.  
“Just be careful Laura, you don’t want to get on the bad side of either of them.” LaFontaine warns.  
“Come on guys! Let’s sing some cannibal corpse!” Carmilla shouts, “In thrall to the evil lord, a procession of the damned…”  
“Carmilla, why don’t you eat some more cookies.” Laura says to get her to shut her up, “I think I have some under my bed.”  
Carmilla stops singing and looks absolutely thrilled. She dives under the bed to go find them and comes out a few moments later with another container of cookies. She starts to shove some in her mouth.  
They then hear shouting from down the hall.  
“What’s that?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Oh yay! It’s Danny and Gwen!” Carmilla says cheerfully.  
The yelling gets louder as the two approach the door. They can hear shouts of, ‘liar’ and ‘untrustworthy’ amongst words like ‘childish’ and ‘overly righteous’.  
The two burst through the door a moment later and they both stomp in. They’ve stopped yelling at one another and instead they just glare.  
“We’ve got the stupid stuff from the alchemy club.” Danny says, anger hidden in her voice, “So do whatever you want to do with it, here it is and…” She’s cut off as Carmilla runs over to them.  
They both freeze in place, preparing for an assault, but instead Carmilla wraps them up in a hug.  
“Yay! My friends are here! I’m so glad you’re here!” Carmilla says, hugging the both of them at the same time.  
Danny and Gwen stare confused at the room. They both just stand there rigid, Danny blinking too fast as she tries to get her bearings.  
Gwen says after a moment in a bewildered tone, “I don’t understand what’s happening.”  
“This is why we needed the stuff from the alchemy club. It’s a cure for Carmilla.” Laura says and Carmilla releases the two from her hug and smiles at them widely.  
They both stare at her smile and then Danny says, “Oh god, make her stop. She’s freaking me out.”  
“You have the cure?” Laura asks.  
Danny quickly walks over and hands her a vial of yellow dust, “Here. They said just too like blow it on her or something. Have her inhale it.”  
While Danny and Laura are talking Carmilla is just smiling at Gwen and bouncing on her toes.  
“Why are you smiling at me?” Gwen asks.  
“Because we’re friends.” Carmilla says.  
“Are we?” Gwen asks, “Cause I’m pretty sure we hate each other.”  
“No way, I couldn’t hate you.” Carmilla says, “You’re awesome! Play me a song!”  
“Uh…I don’t have my guitar, besides you hate my songs.” Gwen says.  
“No! I love your songs! Your songs are amazing!” Carmilla says.  
Gwen looks over at the rest of the room, “Um, guys, do something. She says she likes my songs. I can’t…I can’t handle this.” She shudders, “Laura fix her quick.”  
“Hey Carm, come here for a sec.” Laura says to Carmilla and Carmilla smiles and skips over.  
“Yes the love of my life who I would do anything for!” Carmilla says and everyone groans.  
“Just stand there, okay.” Laura says, pointing to the spot in front of her and Carmilla does, “Now I’m going to blow some dust in your face and I need you to breathe it in.”  
“Ooooh! Yay! Sounds like fun!” Carmilla says.  
Laura pours the dust out onto her hand and then blows it towards Carmilla’s face.  
“Oooh, pretty.” Carmilla says before taking a deep breath and inhaling the dust. Her whole form glows yellow for a moment before her eyes roll back into her head and she falls backward. Laura attempts to catch her, but Danny manages to get her arms under her first and slows her fall to the ground. Then with Gwen’s help the two of them lift Carmilla onto her bed.  
They then back up and let Laura walk over to check on her. After several nerve-wracking seconds Carmilla groans and scrunches her face up in confusion.  
Laura leans over her and clutches her hand, “Carmilla?” She asks.  
Carmilla opens her eyes and squints up at Laura, “Hey cupcake.” She says in a sultry tone, “Why do you look so worried?”  
Laura then beams and throws herself on top of Carmilla for a big hug, “You’re back! Thank god you’re okay!” She shouts and Carmilla hugs her close looking confused.  
“I’m glad you’re happy to see me, but I didn’t go anywhere.” Carmilla says and then realizes there are other people in the room, she looks at them when she asks, “Did I?”  
“What’s the last thing you remember?” LaFontaine asks.  
“We were at the alchemy club headquarters, we’d just gotten the liquid silver and then…” Carmilla frowns as she realizes she doesn’t remember much after that, “How did we get back here?”  
“Carm, they kind of infected you with something. It made you…different. You haven’t been yourself for two days.” Laura says.  
Carmilla looks at her stunned, “Oh.”  
“Yeah.” Laura says.  
“What do you mean different? I didn’t hurt you did I?” Carmilla asks concerned.  
“No, no, no, nothing like that.” Laura says, “Just…well I’ll show you the videos later. That’ll be easier than trying to explain it to you.”  
“Spoiler alert, you told me you loved my songs.” Gwen tells her and Carmilla looks stricken.  
“What?” Carmilla nearly gasps out, “Oh god, this is going to be incredibly awkward and incredibly embarrassing, isn’t it?”  
They all nod and she groans. 

End of video


	16. Friday the 13th

2/13/15  
Laura sits in front of the camera drinking some hot cocoa with Carmilla lounging behind her on her bed.  
“So, tomorrow is the big Zeta snowball fight bash. We’ve been prepping for the last week, doing practice runs and whatnot and I think we’ve got it down pretty well. Kirsch and Danny will be throwing the snowballs. First it’ll be the oil for the Aswang, because that stuff cannot mix with anything else or it won’t work. Then the silver for the werewolf and then salt for the incubus. We figured out hopefully the right amount for each. We don’t want too little because we want him to have a reaction, but we don’t want too much because we don’t want it to be too noticeable. If his whole arm or whatever is marked up, he’ll probably notice that. A little burn on his hand, hopefully not. Anyway, classes have been cancelled for today on account of the fact that it’s Friday the thirteenth and all sorts of weird stuff happens on Friday the thirteenth here at Silas. Mostly minor mishaps. Although one kid fell off the roof of the physics lab and broke both his legs. He survived, just so you know, he just has two broken legs, which sucks. We were going to have a meeting to go over the plan again today, but the others seemed to think it was a bad idea to do that today. I think they’re afraid it might somehow get screwed up.” Laura says and then leans into the camera to whisper, “I also think they’re afraid to be around Carmilla today, since you know, she’s literally a giant black cat.”  
“Ugh, idiots.” Carmilla mutters behind her, “Today is no more unlucky than any other day on this stupid campus. Superstitions are just the beliefs of ignorant children who think that some maniacal outside forces have some hand in how their life goes. Just another way in which all the little humans try to add order and meaning into their lives when in reality there is no meaning and bad shit and good shit happens because life is random, not because you walked under a ladder.”  
“Okay, wow.” Laura says, “You do have to admit there have been an inordinate amount of accidents happening today.”  
“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Carmilla says, “People think they have bad or good luck, so then they only remember the bad or the good.”  
“See, normally I’d agree with you, but this is Silas where the weird and the paranormal congregate.” Laura says and then turns back to the camera, “So we’re just going to meet early…aw crap!” She knocks her mug off the table and the cocoa begins to spill everywhere. Unbeknownst to her the mug had inched slightly closer, just enough for her to hit it with her elbow. Laura launches herself to her feet and rushes into the bathroom to grab some paper towels.  
“Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap.” She says over and over and Carmilla just sits on the bed looking amused. Laura rushes back in and begins to clean up the mess.  
“See, this is what I’m talking about.” Laura says as she blots up the mess, “Bad luck.”  
Carmilla rolls her eyes, “It’s not bad luck. You’re just a klutz.”  
Laura shoots her a glare and turns and talks to the camera as she cleans, “Like I was saying, we’re going to be meeting early tomorrow to go over and prepare one last time. We only have one shot at this right now, so we have to get it right….oh crap…I probably shouldn’t have said that. Now I’ve probably jinxed it.” She groans to herself.  
“You have got to calm down. You did not jinx it. There is no bad luck. There is nothing supernatural about this day. We’re going to be fine.” Carmilla says.  
Suddenly the building begins to shake. The two look around confused for a moment, bracing themselves for whatever is to come. The shaking stops after thirty seconds or so. Laura glares at Carmilla.  
“Yeah, we’re going to be fine? Why don’t you just say, nothing could go wrong or it couldn’t get any worse while you’re at it.” Laura says to her.  
“Oh come on, that was a coincidence, besides it’s done and gone.” Carmilla says and her words are followed by another, larger earthquake which lasts longer. The whole building rattles, sending plenty of loose items like books and cups and whatever else crashing to the floor. Carmilla rushes to Laura’s side and covers her as pieces of loose drywall begin to fall. The shaking stops after several minutes.  
Once it stops Laura scowls at Carmilla, “Yeah, it’s done and gone. Thanks for that.”  
“Look, Cupcake, it’s not…” Carmilla begins, but Laura slaps her on the arm.  
“Stop that!” Laura says, “If you keep saying stuff like that you’re going to have the whole building collapse on top of us.”  
Carmilla rolls her eyes, but does the zipping the lips motion to say she’ll stop talking.  
Laura then realizes Carmilla is practically on top of her on the floor, she blushes and says, “Thanks for… you know…protecting me.”  
Carmilla smiles at her, finding her shyness adorable, “No problem, sweetheart. Anytime.” She then thinks to herself and gets a seductive smile on her lips, “You know…we’re not doing anything today and we don’t have anywhere to be…”  
Laura smiles back at her, “Alright.”  
Carmilla then scoops Laura up into her arms and begins to make her way towards the bed when they hear shouting coming from outside.  
“What is that?” Laura asks, curiously looking over Carmilla’s shoulder at their boarded up window.  
“Ignore it.” Carmilla says, trying to get Laura’s attention away from the outside and back on each other.  
Laura shrugs and is about to kiss Carmilla when there is more shouting and the sound of a small explosion.  
“Okay, now, what was that?” Laura asks and leaps out of Carmilla’s arms. Carmilla scowls and follows her girlfriend to the window.  
Laura attempts to find a way to look out the boarded up window, “Ugh, I can’t see. Here Carmilla, can you give me a boost so I can see from the top window.”  
“It’s not our concern. Come on, we have plenty of other things to worry about.” Carmilla says and begins to dance her fingers along Laura’s shoulder, “Let the rest of the school handle it for a change.”  
“But…” Laura begins and is distracted by Carmilla’s seductive smile and eyes.  
“Come on, Cupcake. You and me, alone in this room. Together with nothing to do.” Carmilla says and smiles again.  
Laura smiles back, “Alright, just this once I’ll ignore…”  
Their door slams open and LaFontaine and Perry burst through the door.  
Laura looks over at them, “Guys?”  
Carmilla is internally screaming now, but instead just says, “Maybe today is cursed.”  
“Oh thank goodness you guys are alright.” Perry says.  
“What’s going on?” Laura asks, “Is everything okay?”  
“No. A giant fissure has opened up in the middle of campus and all kinds of demony things are popping out of it. The Summer Society and Zetas are leading the battle against them while the alchemy club is trying to figure out how to close the fissure.” LaFontaine says.  
“Oh my god.” Laura says, “What should we do?”  
Danny and Gwen come bursting through the door a few seconds later. The two are covered in dirt, bruises, and smell strongly of brimstone. Gwen is partially transformed, her claws and fangs are out and her eyes are a deep shade of yellow. She looks bigger, bulkier, and more hunched over. Her nose and brow are protruding even more and her ears are somewhat pointed.  
“You guys okay?” Danny asks out of breath.  
“Yeah, we’re fine.” Laura replies. Carmilla just resigns herself to the fact that she’s not getting any right now.  
“Sure, yeah, just all come in. It’s fine.” Carmilla says to herself.  
“What’s her deal?” Danny asks  
“Nothing, ignore her.” Laura says, “Are you guys okay?”  
“It’s a hell of battle going on out there, literally.” Danny says, “But we’re okay so far.” Gwen lets out a growling noise of agreement and they all look at her.  
She frowns and shrugs.  
“She can’t really talk too well right now, being all half wolf and all.” Danny says and they all nod in understanding.  
“So, what can we do to help?” Laura asks.  
“Well, we could use a badass vampire with super strength out there to pummel demons.” Danny says, looking at Carmilla hopefully.  
Carmilla groans and then says, “Fine. I’ll help. You’re lucky I have a lot of pent up rage right now.”  
“What can I do?” Laura asks.  
“The rest of you should help the alchemy club figure out a way to close the fissure. We are holding our own for now, but we can’t keep fighting these things forever.” Danny says.  
“On it!” Laura says, “Let’s go!”  
They all file out of the room.

Later that night

Everyone is gathered in Laura and Carmilla’s room. They all look tired, covered in ash, and a bit beat up. Laura sits at her desk as usual. Carmilla is standing next to her, rubbing one of her shoulders for comfort. Perry and LaFontaine are sitting on Carmilla’s bed. Perry is treating LaFontaine’s wounds.  
Danny is sitting on the edge of Laura’s bed, looking at Gwen with worry in her eyes and clutching Gwen’s hand in her own. Gwen is splayed out along the bed, unconscious, looking the worst of the bunch.  
Laura looks at Gwen and then at the camera, “Hello everyone, I hope you all are okay after today. I hope you are home safe and sound. As many of you probably already know, the earthquakes we experienced earlier were not in fact just earthquakes, but a fissure to another demonic dimension being opened up right in the middle of campus. The fissure opened up and all manner of fire and hell beasts began tumbling out and attacking anyone nearby. Apparently, every thirteen hundred years, on the 1st Friday the 13th in the midst of a lunar tetrad, this fissure will open up and release demons. And the only way to close it is to speak the correct phrase, which was written in an ancient form of Hebrew by the way, over the pit while pouring in twice blessed water and salt. So once we translated the phrase, Danny rushes over to the edge of the pit with the water and the salt and begins to say the phrase when suddenly…”  
Danny turns around from where she is tending to Gwen and interrupts her, “When suddenly Gwen tackles me to the ground. At first I have no idea what’s going on and then something whooshes by overhead. Apparently some like arch demon or whatever, this big bad monster had crawled out of the fissure a little down from me and had spotted me trying to close it. I didn’t even see the guy amongst the fire and smoke and ash and whatnot. So he was coming at me with a huge mace, about to swing it at me when Gwen knocks me to the ground and it flies by overhead. So then we get up and begin to try and avoid the demon. And Gwen turns back enough to say to me, she says, ‘Do the ritual! I’ll distract him!’ So I go back to focusing on the ritual and she goes full werewolf and goes at the demon. She’s mostly dodging his swinging mace and biting him when she can, trying to get him away from me so I can close the fissure. And just as I’m about to finish the ritual I hear this sickening crack and a yelp, and I want to know…I want to help…but I have to complete the ritual because that’s the best way to help. So I complete it and the ground begins to shake again. And even more fire begins to pour out of the pit. So I run backwards away from it. And I’m trying to find Gwen. But there’s too much smoke and ash to see.”  
“And all the demons are screaming this high pitched shrieking sound.” Laura continues, “Then they suddenly just all start to get sucked back into the fissure, like it was a giant vacuum and they’re all evil dust bunnies. And the big demon is trying to resist being sucked back in and he’s screaming like, ‘Noooo!’ while practically shaking his fists at us. And then he gets sucked back into the fissure. And then the fissure closes and suddenly it’s like none of it happened.”  
“Except for all the fire and smoke and ash and…bodies.” LaFontaine says.  
“Yeah, except for that.” Laura adds.  
“And the smaller fissures that keep popping up at random and ejecting flame.” Carmilla says.  
“Yeah, except for those too.” Laura amends, “And as the smoke begins to clear…” And looks back at Danny and Gwen.  
“As the smoke begins to clear…” Danny says again and continues, “I spot Gwen…on…on the ground. She’s…she’s bleeding badly and…she’s not…she’s not moving, so I think…I think she’s dead. And I rush over and I’m panicking. I’ve never felt more dread before in my life. But I get there and she’s still alive, she’s still breathing, but she’s unconscious and badly hurt. So we try and stop her bleeding and then call for an ambulance, but all the medics and clerics are otherwise occupied as there are a lot of injured and….dead. And I know I shouldn’t have moved her probably, but…but it was still dangerous out there…and I didn’t want her to…she needed to be safe and I’m sorry that she’s on your bed Laura, but your guys’ place was the closest and…”  
Laura cuts her off, “It’s fine. Danny, it’s fine.” And even Carmilla nods in agreement.  
“And so, we’ve stopped the bleeding.” LaFontaine says, “And now we’re just waiting for the medics to get here to take her to the hospital or whatever.”  
“But she hasn’t…she hasn’t moved or anything since we got back.” Danny says, “And I’m afraid that…oh god…” Danny puts her head in her hands.  
“Hey, amazon, it’ll be okay. She’s a tough cookie.” Carmilla says, “Werewolves are made of tough stuff. Besides, she’s too much of a pain in the ass to die. Okay? Before you know it she’ll be singing you one of her stupid songs. So, don’t worry.”  
Danny looks over at Carmilla a bit stunned by the kindness, but overall grateful, “Thanks.”  
Carmilla realizes she’s being nice and then shrugs, “Don’t think this means I like you now or anything. I just feel bad because you look all pathetic and everything.” She tries to seem all apathetic again, but Danny just smiles knowingly.  
There’s a knock on the door and everyone jumps a little, startled by it. They’re all still on edge.  
“That must be the medics.” LaFontaine says and they and Perry get up to get the door.  
They swing open the door, but don’t find medics on the other side. Instead, they find the Dean.

 

End of video

2/13/15

“Why hello ladies.” The Dean says as he steps into the room, through LaFontaine and Perry, “Just stopping by to check in. See how everyone is doing.” He gives them a not so reassuring smile.  
“Hello, sir.” Several of them say at once.  
“I’m also looking for Ms. Gwendolyn Adams.” The Dean says and adds, “I’ve heard she’s had a bit of accident.” He moves further into the room and spots her lying on the bed, he makes a tutting noise and says, “Oh, poor dear.” He goes over to examine her and Danny reluctantly moves out of the way.  
“The medics are on their way now, sir, to um…pick her up.” Danny tells him.  
He smiles up at her, but she doesn’t find it very friendly, “Oh, I’m afraid she’s coming with me.”  
Everyone in the room looks stunned for a moment.  
“You can’t!” Danny says and then adds, “Sir, I mean, she needs to go to the hospital.”  
“Oh, don’t worry Ms. Lawrence. She’ll be under excellent care. I promise.” The Dean says and then snaps his fingers. Two large burly men in suits come striding in as well as two people dressed in paramedic uniforms wheeling in a stretcher. The room is now quite cramped.  
The medics look Gwen over and perform some quick tests before they lift her onto the stretcher. They then strap her down and wheel her off. The two large men in suits following after them.  
The Dean smiles at the room, as everyone else looks stricken, and says, “She’ll be fine ladies. She’ll be right as rain in no time. I won’t let anything happen to her. I guarantee it. Now you ladies stay out of trouble, alright?” He then confidently strides out of the room and shuts the door. Leaving everyone standing around stunned.  
There are several moments of silence before Danny finally says, “We just let him take her. How could we just have let him take her?”  
“We didn’t really have a choice.” Carmilla says.  
Danny looks at her angrily, “Don’t. You never liked her. You probably wanted this you bloodsucking bitch.” Her voice is filled with venom.  
Carmilla doesn’t even flinch, she just says, “I’m going to let that slide because I know you’re distraught. But another crack like that jolly red and you’ll be flat on your back before you can even say, ‘bloodsucker’ one more time.”  
Danny glares at her, but then takes a deep breath and lets it out, she shakes her head, “I’m sorry.” She directs this at Carmilla who nods in response.  
“What do you think they’re going to do with her?” Perry asks.  
“Nothing good. Interrogation, torture, experimentation, witchcraft, who knows, they’re all on the table at this place.” LaFontaine says and gets a look from both Laura and Perry saying, ‘be more sensitive’, “I mean, we don’t know for sure that anything bad is happening. It’s just speculation is all.” They look nervously at Danny who is now pacing the room.  
“We have to do something. We have to go after her.” Danny says.  
“Go after her where? Go after her how?” LaFontaine asks, “We have no idea what this guy is up to.”  
“Besides the fact that while he gives…what’re the words, a sinister vibe, we don’t actually have any evidence that he is up to anything well…evil.” Perry says.  
“Perry has a point, we can’t start a crusade against the Dean just because we don’t like him.” Laura says, “Or because he’s super creepy.”  
“So, you’re suggesting what? We do nothing?” Danny asks, “We just let them do whatever is it they’re doing to her?”  
“No. We need a plan though. If the Dean is up to something, he’s powerful and connected. We can’t just go barging in all John Wayne style. We have to be smart, which means we need more information.” Laura says, “We’ll start asking around, see what people know about him. In the meantime, we have murdered girls to find justice for and we at least have a plan for that.”  
“Although is that even still happening?” LaFontaine asks, “We kinda need snow for a snowball fight and all the snow kinda got melted by all the hellfire.”  
“I guess we can ask Kirsch.” Laura says, “Wait, has anyone checked on Kirsch? I saw him out there fighting, but I haven’t seen him since then.”  
“I’m sure he’s fine, Cupcake.” Carmilla says, sensing Laura’s worry, “We’ll track him down.”  
Twenty minutes later

Kirsch is sitting with the rest of them. He has a black eye and few cuts and bruises, but he’s okay.  
“It was a total bloodbath out there. I’m glad you ladies are all good.” Kirsch says.  
“We’re glad you’re okay too Kirsch.” Laura says, “Now, about our plan tomorrow…”  
“Oh yeah, the snowball fight.” Kirsch says bobbing his head, “Yeah, well that’s kinda been postponed.”  
“Postponed, not cancelled?” Laura asks.  
“Yeah, they were totally going to cancel it, but I was like, no way, we need that snowball fight. I mean, we do, but I couldn’t tell them that, right? So, I just said we should totally just push it to next week. It’s a tradition or whatever here, we can’t just cancel it because a bunch of monsters attack. You know? And my bros were cool with that. So yeah, it’s next weekend instead.” Kirsch says.  
Everyone looks at Kirsch sort of surprised.  
Then Laura rushes over and hugs him, “Oh Kirsch, you beautiful bro you. You saved the day.”  
“Whoa little Laura.” Kirsch says as she hugs him, “Thanks.” He pats her on the back and she lets him go.  
“So the plan is still on.” Laura says, “We just have to wait another week.”  
“In the meantime, we can start investigating the Dean.” Danny says.  
“The Dean?” Kirsch asks, “What’s that dude up to?”  
“We don’t know. But he has Gwen.” Laura says.  
“Blond hottie? Er…I mean Gwen? No way, that sucks.” Kirsch says, “Anything you need to help get her back and I’m there. Me and the Zetas are with you all the way.”  
“Thanks Kirsch.” Laura says.  
“Alright.” Kirsch says and then leaps to his feet, “I’m starving. I’m going to the caf. Later ladies.” He leaves them by themselves again.  
“So the meathead managed to pull through.” Carmilla says once he’s gone, “Who would have thunk it.”  
Laura gives a big yawn and then they all yawn after her.  
“Okay, I think it’s a good time to turn in.” Laura says and turns back to the camera, “It’s been a long, eventful day for us all, but we made it through in one piece. So, if you’re out there watching. Stay safe.”

End of video


	17. To the Dean's office

2/16/15

Laura sits at her computer with Danny sitting next to her. Carmilla is asleep in the background.   
“Hello everyone. So, our snowball fight plan is postponed until the end of the week. In the meantime, we need to figure out what happened to Gwen.” Laura tells the camera.  
“And that means investigating the Dean.” Danny says, “And the first step is getting into his office.”  
“Yeah, he keeps his office locked up tight with two security guards in front of the door at all times, even in the middle of the night.” Laura says, “Which is super suspicious if you ask me.”  
“So we figured, whatever he’s hiding, it’s probably somewhere in there.” Danny says, “And maybe we can figure out where he’s keeping Gwen.”  
“So we can’t get through the front door, I mean we can. Anyone can schedule an appointment with him, but we can’t get in without him there.” Laura says, “So the question is, how do we get into a locked and guarded room? The answer is air ducts.”  
“They run through most of the buildings in the school and are pretty much everywhere.” Danny says, “Sometimes mutated raccoons travel through them, but they should be mostly empty.”  
“Yeah, so I talked to LaFontaine and she had JP pull up some blueprints and diagrams and there is an air duct that leads right into the Dean’s office.” Laura says, “So we figured one of us…” Danny points to Laura with a smirk who rolls her eyes and continues, “Fine, me, we figured I could crawl through the air ducts…and wait a second did you say mutated raccoons?”  
Danny looks at her, “Yeah, it’s totally fine. Just bring your bear spray. Plenty of people have been in the ducts before with only minor biting. And most didn’t grow any weird growths later on.”  
“Danny! I’m not going in there if I’m going to be bitten by mutated raccoons!” Laura says, “I could get rabies, or growths, or…” She looks over to see Danny laughing and she scowls, “…and you’re totally joking aren’t you.”  
Danny nods, still laughing, “Yeah, I’m joking.” She then gets serious for a second, “But do watch out for the cockroaches.”  
“I’m not afraid of cockroaches.” Laura says.  
“You should be.” Danny says and shudders, “But anyway, around midnight, Laura is going to sneak into the ducts and make her way into the Dean’s office. There she’s going to snoop around and try to figure out where Gwen is and see what else this Dean is hiding.”  
“Then I’ll sneak out back through the ducts and no one will be the wiser.” Laura says, “Then we can rescue Gwen.”  
“We’re geniuses.” Danny says and they high five.  
“You two are idiots.” Carmilla grumbles from behind them and they turn to look at her.  
“Hey, we have a good plan.” Laura says, “It can work, I know it can.”  
“And I’m not questioning the viability of your plan.” Carmilla says as she yawns and stretches, “But you’re forgetting one important thing.”  
“What’s that?” Laura asks.  
“I can teleport.” Carmilla replies.  
They both stare at her silently for several moments and then Danny smacks her forehead with her palm, “We’re idiots.”  
“I’m glad we can agree on something.” Carmilla says with a smirk.  
“Wait, I thought you can only teleport places you’ve seen?” Laura asks.  
“And how many times do you think I’ve been in my mother’s former office?” Carmilla asks.  
“Oh…right.” Laura says and then sinks down into her chair looking foolish, “Well then that makes much more sense.”  
Carmilla chuckles as Laura puts her head in her hands, “Hey, it’s alright. We all can’t be as brilliant as me.” Danny just snorts in response.  
Laura then turns back to the camera, “Ok, well, new plan. Carmilla is going to teleport into his office around midnight and she’s going to snoop around his office.”  
“Sounds like a good plan.” Carmilla says, “While you two bozos make sure the Dean isn’t in his office.”  
Laura nods, “Yeah, that makes sen…oh my god we should get walkie talkies!”  
Carmilla shakes her head, “We don’t need walkie talkies.”  
“Yes we do. How have we not gotten walkie talkies?” Laura says and leaps to her feet in excitement, “How are we supposed to communicate with each other while you’re in there?”  
Carmilla takes out her cell phone and shows her, “This thing, is called a cell phone and allows you to communicate with each other over great distances.”  
“Yes, thank you Carm.” Laura says rolling her eyes, “I know what a cell phone is. I just meant, what if his office is jamming cell phone signals. Or what if you don’t hear it ring or don’t have time to answer it? Oh man, who would have walkie talkies?” Laura then throws her arm up, “LaF! LaF would have them. I’ll be right back you guys!” She then bolts out of the room before either girl can stop her.  
Carmilla looks at Danny who raises her hands up and says, “Hey, don’t look at me, you’re the one dating her.”  
Carmilla groans and then slides off the bed to chase after her overly enthusiastic girlfriend.

Cut to later, near midnight

Carmilla is sitting on her bed, reading a book, a walkie talkie next to her. The walkie talkie crackles to life and the slightly distorted voice of Laura can be heard over it.  
”This is Little Cupcake and Artemis to Broody Panther, do you copy?” Laura says.  
Carmilla lets out a long sigh, but doesn’t respond, instead she just flicks to the next page.  
The crackling noise comes again and Laura repeats herself, “This is Little Cupcake and Artemis to Broody Panther, do you copy?”  
Carmilla stills doesn’t respond, but she does smile to herself when she hears an exasperated sigh over the radio.  
“Is this thing working.” Laura says and Carmilla can hear someone fiddling with the radio.  
“Here, let me try.” She hears Danny say and then Danny speaks into the radio, “Hey, dead girl, you there?”  
Carmilla quickly reaches down for the radio and presses the call button, “I’m here.”  
There is another sound of the radio changing hands and then Laura speaks, “Carm, why didn’t you respond before? You said you would do this.”  
“I told you, I’m not using code names.” Carmilla says.  
“Oh now she won’t use code names.” Laura grumbles and then says to Carmilla, “Fine. We just saw the Dean leave his office. He’s made his way to his car, he’s been sitting in there for the past five minutes. So you’re good to go, we’ll let you know if anything changes…over.”  
Carmilla nods and then says, “Alright.” She then disappears in a puff of black smoking, taking the walkie talkie with her.

Half an hour later.

The room is empty, but quick footsteps can be heard approaching the door. The door swings open and Laura bursts into the room, “Carm! Carm! Carmilla!” She shouts as she races into the room, her eyes sweeping it for her girlfriend. She rushes towards the bathroom as Danny walks in behind her, also searching the room.  
Laura leaves the bathroom and looks to Danny with panic on her face, Danny’s face matches hers.  
“Where is she?” Laura asks in a small, concerned voice.  
“I don’t know Laura.” Danny says with a frown and Laura slumps onto her bed, head in her hands.  
“How could we have lost him? We had one job! One job! All we had to do was follow him and make sure he didn’t go back to the office.” Laura says and then pulls out the radio, “Carmilla! Carmilla can you hear me? Carmilla, please respond.” She waits, but there is just the crackle of static, no answer.  
“He went into the library, how the hell were we supposed to know he was going to go into the library.” Danny says and shakes her head. Laura speaks into the walkie talkie again, “Carmilla! Carmilla! Come on! Please!”  
“She probably turned it off or…” Danny begins, but doesn’t finish.   
“Oh god, he probably has her. He’s probably doing something horrible to her right now. We have to save her. We have to go after…” Laura begins, but is interrupted by a puff of black smoke that appears on Carmilla’s side of the room.   
As soon as Carmilla materializes fully, Laura launches herself at her and wraps her up in a hug.  
“Oh thank god you’re okay!” Laura says, “I was so worried!”  
“Easy there, Buttercup.” Carmilla says to her, steading her girlfriend and extricating herself from the hug. She puts her hands on Laura’s shoulders as they pull apart and looks her in the eyes, “I’m fine, Laura, I promise.”  
Laura nods and takes a breath of relief, “Okay, good. Good. I was so worried.   
“I know. Just breathe alright?” Carmilla says and Laura takes a few more breaths. Once she’s calm again, then Carmilla scowls.  
“So what the hell happened?” Carmilla asks sternly and Laura seems surprised by the change in tone.  
“We lost track of the Dean.” Danny answers somewhat sheepishly.  
“Yeah, that part I figured out pretty quick when he came back into his office.” Carmilla says frowning.  
“Oh man, he came back?” Laura asks and flops down onto her bed again and then looks at Carmilla concerned, “And you’re really okay?”  
“Yes, I’m really okay.” Carmilla says, “Annoyed, but okay. So what happened? I thought you guys were watching him and were supposed to warn me if he was coming back?”  
“We were, we meant to.” Danny says, “But he headed into the library.”  
“We went in after him and followed him for a while, but at one point he turned a corner and we went around the corner too and suddenly he was just…gone.” Laura says, “We’re sorry.”  
Carmilla groans and rubs her temples, “I know. Okay, there’s nothing you could have really done anyway.”  
They look at her surprised that she’s letting them off the hook so easily. Carmilla must have realized their surprise and realized how nice she was being, because she added, “But next time you two imbeciles have a plan, count me out, okay?”   
“So…what happened on your end, dead girl?” Danny asks.  
Carmilla scowls at her, but then takes a seat on her bed and says, “I got there and everything was going according to plan. I started going through the files on his desk and I was just getting into the filing cabinets at the back of his office when I heard footsteps approaching. The radio started making sounds, so I quickly turned it off. I then teleported into the air duct, just as someone was putting the keys into the lock to open up the office door. Then the Dean stepped into his office.”  
“Why didn’t you just teleport back here?” Laura asks.  
“I hadn’t really found anything useful in the office. I was hoping to maybe figure out why the Dean was at his office so late. And if he left, I was going to go back to looking through the files.” Carmilla says with a shrug.  
“So, did you figure out why he was there?” Danny asks, “Did you figure out where they’re keeping Gwen?”  
“Hold your horses.” Carmilla says, “I’m getting there. Anyway, I’m in the air vent, just waiting and he just seems to be doing work, so I’m about to just teleport out of there when someone knocks on the door.”  
“Who?” Laura asks.  
Carmilla frowns, “Have you two never listened to a story before? Can you please just let me finish?”   
“Yes, sorry Carm.” Laura says looking sheepish, Danny just nods.  
“Thank you.” Carmilla says, “As I was saying, someone knocks on the door and the Dean calls the person in and guess who it is? It’s Phil.”  
“Phil? The Zeta we’re suspecting.” Danny says, “That can’t be a coincidence.”  
“That was my thought too.” Carmilla says, “So I wait. And then they start talking about the murder victims.”  
“Martina and…what’s the other one’s name?” Danny asks.  
“Naomi.” Laura supplies for her.  
“Yes, Martina and Naomi?” Danny asks.  
“What other murder victims would I be talking about?” Carmilla replies, “Yes, those two. Phil came into the room and the Dean asked how everything was going. Phil said that Hernandez and Oshiro were dead. Then the Dean got up and went into his filing cabinet and pulled out two file folders, one for each of the two dead girls. He went through it and then nodded. He then told Phil focus on Bredesen, I assume that’s a name. Then he went on to say that if that didn’t work, they would move onto phase three shortly. Then Phil left. It was all very quick and official. Then it was just the Dean alone again and he was doing work, he didn’t seem to be leaving anytime soon, so I teleported out of there.”  
“So they’re working together and they are involved with these murders.” Laura says, a frown forming, “But why? And why those girls specifically? Why do they need the hearts? And how do we stop them?”  
“All very good questions.” Carmilla says with a shrug.  
“We have to warn this Bredesen person, whoever that is.” Danny says, “And soon.”  
“We can have JP look through the student registry, see if we can’t find whoever that is.” Laura says and then proceeds to yawn, “We need to get a hold of those file folders though.”  
“I think some of us need to go to sleep. It’s well past your bedtime.” Carmilla says with a smirk. When Laura goes to protest, Carmilla holds up her hand, “We can get the file folders tomorrow.”  
Danny nods, “I’m beat anyway. And we don’t know when or even if the Dean is going to leave is office tonight.”  
“Alright then, let’s go to bed. But tomorrow night we’re getting those file folders and we’re going to figure out what the frell is going on here.” Laura says.

End of video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading everyone!


	18. Back to the Office

2/17/15  
Laura, Carmilla, Danny, LaFontaine, and Perry, as well as an unknown new girl all sit in Laura and Carmilla’s room.   
Laura looks at the camera and begins to speak, “Hello everyone. This right here is Gerdy Bredesen. JP found her, she lives two floors below us.” Gerdy smiles and waves at the camera with a bit of uncertainty.  
“We’re in the midst of filling her in on what’s going on.” Laura finishes.  
Gerdy nods and then turns back to the group, “So, let me get this straight, girls are getting murdered in this dorm by something ripping people’s hearts out and you think the Dean and some of the Zetas are involved and you think I’m next?”  
“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.” LaFontaine says.  
“How are you doing, honey?” Perry asks.  
Gerdy shrugs, “I think you guys are nuts.”  
“What?” They all say at once as Gerdy gets up to leave.  
“Yeah, there’s no way this is real. You’re either yanking my chain or you’re crazy, either way I’m out of here.” Gerdy says.  
“Wait no, we’re being serious here. And we’re not crazy. This stuff is really happening. We’re trying to protect you.” Laura says.  
“Have you not heard about the murders?” Carmilla asks.  
“Yeah, of course I have. But that doesn’t mean I’m next or that it’s some grand conspiracy with the Dean. Weird crap like that happens around here all the time. Besides, I can take care of myself.” Gerdy says, “So thanks for ‘trying to protect me’ I guess, but I’m just going to go.”  
“If you don’t head our warning, in the next week or so your roommate is going to walk into your room and find you dead, with your heart ripped out.” Carmilla snarls out.  
“One, I don’t have a roommate. Two, that almost sounded like a threat? Are you threatening me?” Gerdy asks.  
“No, no we’re not. That’s just Carmilla, a lot of what she says sort of sounds like a threat.” Perry says quickly which earns a glare from Carmilla, “We’re just trying to warn you. We believe you’re in danger.”  
“Fine. I’m in danger. What exactly could you guys do about that anyway?” Gerdy asks and they all sit silently for a moment thinking, Gerdy then nods to herself, “Exactly. Well, then, this has been…weird. Have fun monster hunting or whatever.” She then leaves.   
“Well that didn’t exactly go according to plan.” LaFontaine says.  
“You think?” Carmilla asks and Laura puts her head in her hands.  
She groans, “Ugh, how are we supposed to save people if they won’t let us protect them?”  
Carmilla rubs Laura’s arm, “There’s only so much you can do. You can’t always protect people from themselves.”  
Laura nods and shakes her head, “Alright well, if we can’t protect Gerdy directly, we can at least try and stop the Dean’s nefarious plot…whatever that may be. First, we need to snag those folders.”  
“Actually, before you send Carmilla off on another snooping quest, I think JP and I should take a shot at trying to hack into the Dean’s files. I know he keeps hardcopies in his office, but maybe Silas has gotten more digitized and he keeps electronic versions as well.” LaFontaine says.  
Laura nods, “Good thinking.”   
LaFontaine pulls out their laptop and plugs JP into it. They spend the next hour or so typing away, making all manner of frustrated noises. In the meantime the others just sort of sit around, unsure of what to do.  
“So, how are your classes going so far?” Danny asks Laura.  
“Eh, not too bad. I have Professor Madison for Journalism Ethics, he’s fun in a very intense way.” Laura replies, “I think I’m really enjoying my art class with Professor Okoro, but…”  
“But you can’t remember that class at all, you just leave feeling happy.” Danny finishes.  
“Yeah, exactly!” Laura says, “I have no idea if I’m learning anything or if we all just sit there meditating or whatever.”  
“She’s probably some kind of siren or other water spirit, many of them have some form of emotional manipulation and memory altering ability.” Carmilla says nonchalantly.  
Laura looks at her and then says, “And you’re not concerned by this?”  
Carmilla walks over to her and clasps her hands, “Sweetie, unlike popular mythology, sirens tend to be fairly harmless. Their powers only last so long and you must be in close proximity to them. No one has gotten hurt in that class, besides you do leave with some pretty badass art skills.”  
“You’ve taken it?” Laura asks.  
“Yes.” Carmilla says.  
“Does it work on you?” Laura asks, “The singing or whatever she’s doing.”  
Carmilla gives a sad smile and shakes her head, “Unforunately, no. I’m afraid my soul is too difficult to reach.”  
Laura looks at her sadly, “I’m sorry. And I don’t think that’s true…I reach your soul all the time, I feel it quite often, it’s beautiful.”  
“I know you do. But you’re the only one. And thank you.” Carmilla says, blushing. The two are sitting very close together now, leaning forward towards each other. Laura can feel desire thrum through her, all she can stare at are Carmilla’s soft, luscious lips.  
Before they can lock lips, they hear someone clearing their throat and they look over to see Danny and Perry sitting there awkwardly. Laura pulls back suddenly, having completely forgotten anyone else was in the room. She feels heat rush to her cheeks as she blushes.  
Carmilla just scowls and rolls her eyes. She doesn’t care if the other three are there, she’ll kiss her girlfriend whenever. But she lets Laura pull back.  
“So, um, any luck Laf?” Laura asks awkwardly and gets a grunt in response. Laura then frowns and sighs as they wait some more, eyeing Carmilla with longing the entire time.

Cut to twenty minutes later

LaFontaine makes another annoyed noise and then slams their hands onto the side of the bed in frustration.  
“What is it sweetie?” Perry asks, rushing over to see what the matter is.  
LaFontaine shakes their head and frowns, “The security on it is too good. I’ve never seen firewalls this advanced before. They have their own intranet system set up and have somehow made remote access to it impossible.”  
“So you can’t get in?” Laura asks.  
LaFontaine shakes their head, “Probably not. Or it would take me awhile. Our best bet, is actually to have Carmilla go back in, take a flash drive with software that will copy all the data from the computer onto it, and then get out.”  
“So, we’re back me going in there again.” Carmilla says, “Great.”   
“You said we need some sort of program on a flash drive that allows us to copy the data?” Laura says hoping she got that right and LaFontaine nods, “So…how do we go about getting that?”  
“Well I could probably cook something up, but I think the fastest way is for Carmilla to just take JP. He can do all of that on his own.” LaFontaine says.  
“So…we have a plan then.” Danny says.  
“Great, another plan.” Carmilla groans.  
Laura looks at Carmilla concerned. She then leans in and whispers to her, “You know you don’t have to do this, right? We could figure out another way.”   
“And what other way would that be?” Carmilla asks with a smile.  
Laura hesitates, “I don’t know, but we’d figure it out. I don’t like the fact that you constantly have to be going into the belly of the beast.”  
“I am the beast, remember? Besides, better me than you.” Carmilla says, “No, it’s fine. I can do it.” Carmilla then turns to speak to the rest of the group, “If you guys can actually do your part of the mission this time.”  
Laura grins, “Alright gang, let’s do this.” She then turns to Carmilla, “You have your walkie talkie?” Carmilla groans as she remembers the walkie talkie.

 

Around midnight that night

Perry and LaFontaine sit in Laura’s room, a walkie talkie in hand. LaFontaine is on their laptop typing away. Perry is sitting next to them, rubbing their shoulders. Carmilla is lounging on her bed again, another walkie talkie on her lap.  
“What are you up to sweetie?” Perry asks as she watches LaFontaine work.  
“I’m setting it up so that JP can also provide us with remote access to the Dean’s computer once he’s plugged in. Just in case we need to get back in there later on.” LaFontaine replies and Perry nods.  
There is a crackling sound and the two radios in the room receive the same message from Laura, “The Dean has left his office, I repeat, the Dean has left his office. Carmilla are you in position? …over.”   
Carmilla sighs as LaFontaine chuckles to themselves, “Has she been like this the whole time?”   
“At least she’s stopped using codenames.” Carmilla says a bit exasperated, but there is a fond smile on her lips, she then speaks into the radio, “I’m here, just tell me when to go.”  
The radio makes sound again and then Laura speaks, “You are good to go. I repeat, you are good to go. Over.”  
Carmilla nods and then looks over at LaFontaine, “You ready?”  
LaFontaine holds up their finger as if to say, one second and then finishes something, “Okay, yeah, we’re ready.” They then remove JP from the computer and hand him over to Carmilla.  
Carmilla then disappears into a puff of black smoke.   
They hear a crackling over the radio again, this time just the one, and Carmilla whispers into it, “Alright, I’m in the Dean’s office. Now what?”  
“Now, just plug JP into the computer.” LaFontaine says into the radio.  
A moment later Carmilla speaks, “Okay, done. Now what brainiac?”  
“Now you wait. The computer is probably password protected, but JP should be able to bypass all of that. Once he does, you should get a notification up on the screen asking to allow the program to do its thing. Click okay and then JP should be able to get to work.” LaFontaine replies, “It shouldn’t take more than ten, fifteen minutes tops.”  
“So…then I just stand here?” Carmilla asks.  
There is a crackling and Danny speaks, “You could look through the folders and files too. See maybe where Gwen is.”  
“Alright.” Carmilla replies.   
There is silence for five minutes when Carmilla comes back on the radio, “He has files on everyone.”  
“That’s not really a surprise is it? I mean this is a school.” LaFontaine says.  
“No, I mean he has everything in here.” Carmilla says, “The files on his desk were for…the roommate, the other one…and the rude one.”  
“Martina, Naomi, and Gerdy.” Laura corrects.  
“Yeah, them. It has all the normal stuff, birth dates, where they lived, schools, all that jazz, but also more…unique aspects about them.” Carmilla says.  
“Like what?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Like the fact that none of these girls are human.” Carmilla finishes, “Actually, Martina might have been partially human, she appears to have mixed blood.”  
“Wait, so what are you saying? That they’re targeting nonhumans?” Laura asks.  
There is a long pause and then Carmilla says, “I don’t know. I’m flipping through the files now. Martina had ancestors who might have been shadow beings, making her a seer of some kind. Which is probably why she could see things in the shadows. Naomi is a Satori, a Japanese monster able to read minds. And Gerdy is a mare.”  
“Mare, like a horse?” LaFontaine asks.  
“No, mare, as in short for nightmare. It’s a Scandinavian creature that can cause nightmares. …No wonder she has a room to herself.” Carmilla says.  
There is another long pause of about five minutes or so and then Carmilla speaks again, her voice sounds a bit strained, “They have a file on me.”  
“Carm? You?” Laura asks, “What does it say?”  
“It says…everything. They know I’m a vampire. They know when and where I was born. They know about my mother and my activities with her. They know about our relationship. They know everything.” Carmilla says, her voice getting more panicked by the second.  
“Okay, Carm, just get out of there. Right now. I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit.” Laura says.  
“The thing isn’t done yet.” Carmilla says, “I still have two minutes left.”  
“I don’t care. Get out.” Laura says.  
“Hold on.” Carmilla says and then, “Wait…I hear footsteps. Is the Dean with you?”  
“Yeah, the Dean is here, we’re looking right at him.” Danny says.  
“The footsteps are getting closer, I think someone is coming in here.” Carmilla says.  
“Carm, listen to me. Get out. Now.” Laura says.  
“Will do. Let me just sn…” Carmilla begins, but doesn’t finish. They can hear a hissing noise, a scream, static, and then nothing.  
“Carm! Carm! Speak to me! Carm! Carmilla! What is happening? Are you there? Carm!” Laura shouts into the radio, but they get no response.

End of video


	19. What's the plan?

2/18/15

“Carmilla! Are you there? Carmilla, say something! Please!” Laura shouts into the radio.  
LaFontaine and Perry sit there in stunned silence, unsure of what to do. They leap to their feet at the same time and begin to prepare to mount a rescue.  
Suddenly, a puff of black smoke appears into the room and a flailing, spasming Carmilla appears. As soon as she appears, her eyes roll up in to the back of her head and she drops to the floor, her body convulsing. LaFontaine and Perry can see what appears to be burn marks on her flesh.  
The two look at each other unsure again and then Perry races over to the fridge to grab the soy milk container filled with blood. In the meantime, LaFontaine speaks over the radio because Laura is still shouting into it, “She’s here. She’s here with us.”  
There’s a pause and then, “With you? Is she okay? What happened?”  
“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if she’s okay. She just appeared and now she’s…convulsing. She has burn marks all over her body.”  
There is another pause and then, “Oh my god. We’ll be there in like five minutes. She needs blood!”  
“We know. Perry is getting it for her.” LaFontaine says as Perry kneels down in front of Carmilla, whose spasms have lessened in intensity and become more of a twitching. She lifts Carmilla’s head up carefully and opens her mouth, pouring the blood down her throat.  
After a while, she pulls the soy milk container back and then waits. There is a long, drawn out silence and then Laura’s voice crackles over the radio, “What’s happening? Tell me she’s okay!”  
LaFontaine and Perry don’t answer; they don’t know how to respond. Carmilla’s twitching begins to subside and her burn marks begin to slowly heal. A moment later her eyes begin to flutter open and she looks up to see Perry hovering over her.  
“No offense, but you’re not who I was hoping to see.” Carmilla comments gruffly.  
LaFontaine and Perry sigh in relief and LaFontaine speaks over the radio, “She’s okay. She’s awake.”  
“Oh thank god.” Laura says over the radio, “I’ll be there soon. Tell her I’ll be there soon.”  
Carmilla smiles as she hears Laura over the radio and LaFontaine replies, “She knows.” LaFontaine then turns to Carmilla who is being helped to her feet by Perry, “So you want to tell us what the hell happened?”  
Carmilla grunts as she sits down on the bed and then says, “I think I’ll wait until Laura gets here, don’t want to have to tell it twice.”  
LaFontaine nods in agreement and then asks, “Are you really okay?”  
Carmilla shrugs, “I’m resilient.”  
“Apparently.” LaFontaine says, “But Laura isn’t. You might want to cut down on your near death experiences or you might just give her a heart attack someday.”  
Carmilla nods soberly, “I know.”  
They sit in silence for a few minutes until Laura bursts through the door, running full tilt into the room. She nearly collides full speed into Carmilla, but manages to skid to a stop before hitting her, remembering that she may be hurt. Instead she holds out her hands and looks Carmilla up and down.  
“Are you hurt? Where does it hurt? Are you okay? LaFontaine said you had burn marks. And that you were convulsing. You look okay. Are you in any pain? Do you need me to get you anything? Do you need more blood? I can get you more blood.” Laura blurts out in quick succession, not giving Carmilla any time to respond to any of her questions.  
Eventually Carmilla just lifts up her hand and rests in on Laura’s arm, this quiets her. Carmilla then says, “I’m okay, Cupcake.”  
Laura takes a deep breath and lets it out, and then she asks, “Can I hug you?”  
“I’ll do you one better.” Carmilla says in her seductive way and quickly gets to her feet. Suddenly, their faces are less than an inch apart; their eyes are locked onto each other, their foreheads touching. Carmilla smiles and Laura feels her heart beat quicken in her chest. Carmilla’s arms wrap around Laura’s waist and suddenly their hip to hip. Laura wraps her arms around Carmilla’s neck, her eyes only leaving Carmilla’s to stare at her lips. Her soft warm lips that Laura would do anything to have right about now. She feels a tingle run through her as Carmilla’s eyes become half-lidded with desire, leaning in closer and closer. Their lips barely touch, gliding over one another; their bodies melt into each other, relaxing into each other’s embrace.  
And then the door slams open and Danny walks in, she groans, “Oh jeez, are you two kissing again? God, get a room.”  
Laura groans to herself, wanting more than anything to be alone and Carmilla actually snarls.  
“I should have killed her when I had the chance.” Carmilla whispers to Laura and then turns harsh eyes upon Danny, “This is our room you Amazonian numbskull. And you’re all intruding on it.” She snaps to the room.  
“Well excuse me for being concerned about you.” Danny says with her hands raised, tone annoyed.  
Carmilla looks about ready to bite Danny’s head off, when Laura speaks instead, “Alright, let’s keep this civil right now. We have things to go over.” She reluctantly extricates herself from Carmilla’s warm embrace and she can see the pout forming on Carmilla’s own lips. Carmilla flops down onto her bed and crosses her arms, looking very much like a four year old about to have a tantrum. Laura almost laughs at the sight, but thinks better of it.  
Everyone settles in and then suddenly LaFontaine remembers, “Oh my god, JP! Did you get JP?”  
Carmilla reaches into her pocket and pulls out the flash drive, “Got him right here.” She tosses him over to LaFontaine who catches him somewhat awkwardly, “Saving him is mainly why I got burned by the way, so you’re welcome.”  
“Thanks.” LaFontaine says, “So you want to tell us now what the hell happened?”  
Carmilla rolls her shoulders a bit, seeming somewhat uncomfortable with all the attention.  
“So I was about to get out of there. The footsteps were approaching fast when suddenly there was this hissing noise.” Carmilla says.  
“Like a snake?” Danny asks.  
Carmilla scowls, “No, not like a snake, like air escaping a deflating tire. Or in this case, like gas entering the room.”  
“Gas? They tried to gas you? Oh my god.” Laura says, realizing she’s said ‘oh my god’ too many times in the last few days.  
“But that wouldn’t affect you would it? The gas I mean. I mean you don’t need to breathe, do you?” LaFontaine asks.  
“No, I don’t need to breathe.” Carmilla says, “So I saw the gas creeping in and honestly thought it wouldn’t affect me. I wasn’t by JP anymore, I was by the filing cabinets near the back of the Dean’s office. So I figured I had enough time to snag the little flashdrive and then you know, get out of there before whoever was making their way towards the office got in.”  
“But that obviously didn’t happen.” LaFontaine says.  
“No, it did not.” Carmilla replies, “What I thought was a gas was actually steam.”  
“Steam is a gas.” LaFontaine says.  
“I know.” Carmilla snaps, “I meant what I thought was a poisonous gas. I thought I’d have to breathe it in for it to affect me.”  
“Wait, steam?” Perry asks, “Why would that be a problem? I mean, steam is hot, so it would burn, but you’re rather…tough aren’t you?”  
“I am.” Carmilla replies, “But it wasn’t just any steam, it was holy water.”  
They all sit in silence for about a minute, trying to wrap their heads around what Carmilla just said.  
“So they knew you were coming.” Laura says.  
“Or suspected she might come back.” Danny says.  
“And they knew who you were too, they knew what you were, they knew what would hurt you and tried to take you down.” LaFontaine says. They all sit there in silence again, absorbing that fact.  
“So what happened next?” Danny asks.  
“Well the steam burnt like a motherfucker.” Carmilla says, “So I dive for the stupid flashdrive when the door bursts open. I couldn’t see who it was because the steam had filled the room now, obscuring my vision, but there were at least three of them and they were big. I’m not sure if they were human or not, but they saw me and began to attack. They tried to get a hold of me, but even in my weakened state I managed to shake them. I then grabbed JP and poofed out of there. And the rest you know.”  
Laura wraps her arms around Carmilla and says, “I’m glad you’re safe.”  
“Me too, Buttercup.” Carmilla replies.  
“This is rather terrifying though.” LaFontaine says, “Whatever they are, whoever they are, they’re organized. They planned for this.”  
“They failed.” Carmilla adds.  
“But just barely it sounds like.” Danny says and Carmilla frowns, suddenly looking for something.  
“What’s the matter?” Laura asks.  
“I think I lost my walkie talkie in the scuffle.” Carmilla says, “Sorry.”  
“Oh that’s alright, I don’t care about that.” Laura says, “I care that you’re safe.”  
Suddenly they hear a crackling sound and the radios comes to life and suddenly the Dean’s voice is coming through it, “Ms. Karnstein, Ms. Hollis, Ms. Lawrence, Ms. LaFontaine, and Ms. Perry, I understand that you are concerned about your friend, but breaking into my office is not the way to get answers. If you wanted to see Ms. Adams, all you had to do was ask. She’s in intensive care at Silas’s affiliated hospital. You can visit her whenever you like. And as for your other activities, this is your first and only warning. Cease whatever you are doing. Stop whatever you are planning or we will have to stop you. Whatever you are doing, you cannot possibly succeed. And let’s just say that if you continue you will most definitely get hurt. Well, that’s all for now ladies. Have a good evening.” The radio goes dead and they all just sit there in silence. 

 

End of video

 

2/19/15  
Laura sits in front of the camera again, with Carmilla resting on her own bed and LaFontaine and Perry on Laura’s going through some of the books again.  
“So despite the warning of the Dean and Carmilla’s trepidation, we’re continuing our investigations.” Laura says with an audible sigh, she doesn’t look as enthused as she normally does, “The Dean being an evil monster didn’t stop us last time and it sure won’t stop us now.” She adds, trying to seem spirited, but failing. Carmilla seems to notice this and frowns.  
Laura continues, “Some interesting bit of news, LaFontaine got the blood results back and Naomi, that’s the other girl who was murdered, was also pregnant when she died. So that can’t be a coincidence. We tried to contact Gerdy again, convince her to take a pregnancy test, but that didn’t go too well.”  
“I know I’m going to have nightmares for a week.” LaFontaine says as they continue to read, “I’m looking through the books again and have found some creatures that go after pregnant women. But none that quite fit this creature’s MO, I mean there’s one that eats fetus hearts, but none of the girls were far enough along for that. Plus, I have no idea how the Dean or Phil are involved. And on top of that it doesn’t explain why this thing is going after supernatural creatures, when most of these nasties go after humans.”  
Laura sighs, “Okay, let’s back up a moment. What do we know?”  
“We know two girls have been murdered by some unknown creature that rips their heart out for some unknown purpose.” LaFontaine says.  
“We know the creature has claws and climbed out the window.” Laura says.  
“We know the two girls were pregnant at the time of their deaths.” Perry continues.  
“We know they were both supernatural creatures.” Carmilla says.  
“We know that Phil was seen entering both of these girls’ rooms before they were murdered.” Laura says.  
“We know the Dean is somehow involved in all of this.” LaFontaine says, “And that Phil is somehow involved with the Dean.”  
“We believe that Gerdy is the next victim.” Perry says.  
“So we’ve gathered more information and instead of getting any answers, we’ve just gotten more questions.” Laura says and puts her face down on her desk, “This doesn’t make any sense. What the hell is going on here?”  
Carmilla walks over and rubs her hand in circles on Laura’s back, “We’ll figure this out, don’t worry.”  
Laura sighs and shakes her head, “Before another girl gets murdered? Before whoever or whatever they are enact their plan? We’re missing something here, we’re missing something big and I just can’t see it.”  
“Well tomorrow is supposedly the big snowball fight, did you still want to go through with that?” LaFontaine asks.  
Laura shrugs, “I guess, it’s the only plan we’ve got right now.” She slumps down in her chair and stares at the camera.  
“Buck up Cupcake, we can do this.” Carmilla says and Laura gives her a skeptical look.  
“Since when are you so optimistic?” Laura asks.  
“Since you decided to give up.” Carmilla replies.  
Laura looks at her indignant, “I have not given up! I’m just…I don’t know… we figured out all this stuff last semester, I just had kind of hoped it would be easier now that we kind of knew what we were doing. But it seems like we’re digging ourselves in deeper and deeper without getting any answers.”  
Carmilla takes Laura’s hands in her own and looks her in the eyes, “Laura, if anyone can figure this out, you can. I have complete faith in you. Now, what would Lois Lane or Veronica Mars or Nancy Drew do at this point when faced with a roadblock, hmm?”  
Laura thinks for a moment and suddenly her intrepid spirit is back in full force, she throws her hand up in a triumphant gesture and says, “They’d dig their heels in and punch right through it. They’d keep going, no matter what. They’d find a new angle or they’d keep looking at the clues. They’d do something.”  
“There you go.” Carmilla says with a smirk, “So what now, what’s the plan?”  
“The plan is what it always was, we do the snowball fight. See if Phil is some kind of monstery thing and handle it from there. If not, then we’ll reevaluate after that.” Laura says with determination, “Now let’s gather up Danny and Kirsch and go over the plan one more time for tomorrow.” She says while beaming a smile up at Carmilla, “I think something good is going to happen, I think we’re going to make a break through soon. I can feel it.” She then leaps to her feet, turning to the others, “Come on guys, let’s get the others.” She then strides purposefully out the door.  
Carmilla smiles as LaFontaine and Perry look at one another baffled, “You go get ‘em Creampuff.”


	20. One step closer

2/20/15  
The camera clicks on and Laura, Carmilla, Danny, LaFontaine, Perry, and Kirsch are all gathered in Laura’s and Carmilla’s room. They’re all decked out in snow gear, except for Carmilla, and they’re all already covered in snow. They look like they’ve been inside for a few minutes, as the snow is already beginning to melt, dripping down their clothes and skin onto a floor growing ever damper.   
Laura smiles at the camera and says, “We did it. Well, the plan was a success. I can’t believe it. After everything, we’ve finally got a win on our side. Don’t get me wrong, we have a long way to go, but at least we have one question answered.”  
“What is Phil?” LaFontaine asks with a smile.  
“Yes, that question.” Laura says smiling back, “So as you already know, we’ve had this plan set up for a few weeks now. Every year the Zetas during the winter semester throw a campus wide snowball fight. We figured this was the best way to get the reagents onto Phil’s skin without him suspecting too much. In all the chaos and snow flying and people running all over the place, it would be hard to pinpoint, who or what caused say…his skin to begin burning. In the cold weather he may not even notice. The only hard part is getting the snowballs to contact skin. Now most sane people would be covered from head to toe in snow gear…”  
“But not the Zetas, oh no.” Danny says.  
“Na…na…no…wa…wa…we..ca…ca…can…wa…with…sta…sta..stand…the…ca…ca…cold…” Kirsch stutters out between clattering teeth, he’s obviously shivering. He’s covered in several layers of snow gear and has wrapped himself in several blankets. It looks like Perry has also made him some hot chocolate.  
Danny rolls her eyes and gives him a shoulder nudge, “This guy here, as well as the other Zeta idiots, have a tradition of going shirtless during the final hours of the snowball fight.”  
“Wa…wa…we…stra..strip down…and...sha…show…off…ha…how…ta…ta…tough we are.” Kirsch says with a smile.  
“And so these morons did just that, including Phil.” Danny continues, “So once we’d packed the reagents into the snowballs, Kirsch and I got into the fray and found Phil running around shirtless with some of the others. We then pegged him with the snowballs one at a time. We didn’t move to the next set until we were sure the one we had used was having no effect.”  
“And…Fa…Fa..Phil…di…didn’t even…na…na…know…wa…what hit him.” Kirsch says, “He…he…fa…fa…felt it…and tha…thought it was the al…alchemy club…da…doing weird…tha…tha…things. He wa…was like…ba…ba…bro, who is pa…putting acid in the sna…snowballs? This sta…stuff ba…burns.”  
“Yeah, once his skin began to burn, and it kind of bubbled and blistered on his arm, he started looking around, but we’d already gotten out of there once we saw the effect. I don’t think he saw us because he went charging after some of the alchemy club kids.” Danny says, “He’s going to have some nasty marks on his arm for a while.”  
“Yeah, wa…we fa…figured it out tha..thanks to ma…me.” Kirsch says with a grin, pointing to himself.  
Danny shoots him a look, “What are you talking about? It was my snowball that hit him in the arm.”  
Kirsch looks at her likes she’s crazy, “Bro, like na…no way. It was ta…totally mine.”  
“Nuh uh.” Danny says, “Mine hit him in the arm. Yours missed him by like a mile.”  
“No way.” Kirsch says, “Tha..that was yours. It went ra..right over his head.”  
“Nope, totally yours. I watched mine hit him.” Danny says.  
“Bro, it was ma…mine.” Kirsch counters.  
“Ya..ya..yours popsicle boy?” Danny asks with a smirk, “Doubtful, you could barely throw straight by the end you were shivering so much. It was definitely mine.”  
“No...” Kirsch begins, but Laura cuts him off.  
“Anyway…” Laura begins, glaring at the two of them to stop arguing, she then turns back to the camera, “Guess which one did it?” Laura asks with a smile, “The salt. Phil is an Incubus.”

End of video

2/20/15

The group has stripped out of their winter gear, except for Kirsch who is still under several layers of blankets and they’re all now lounging around Laura and Carmilla’s room.  
“So now we need a plan to capture him and banish him.” Laura says, “How do we do that?”  
“Well the banishment part is all written down here in this book.” LaFontaine says holding up an old, green leather bound volume, “It’s a particular type of exorcism.”  
“Exorcism? Are you saying Phil is possessed by the incubus?” Danny asks.  
“Maybe.” LaFontaine replies, “I don’t know exactly how that works.”  
“So, there could be a real Phil, underneath all that?” Laura asks.  
“Possibly.” LaFontaine replies with a shrug, “We won’t know until we try it.”  
“And this exorcism, what does it involve?” Laura asks.  
“It’s a variation on the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.” LaFontaine says as if they should all know what that means. The only other person who does is Carmilla, who nods her head.  
“Uh…I don’t know what that is.” Kirsch says.  
“It’s a magical ceremony that helps banish any impure or chaotic elements from a practitioner’s circle. Some use it just for meditative purposes, but it actually does work in banishing demons.” Carmilla replies.  
They all look at her and she shrugs, “There were quite a few demons to banish during the French Revolution. Mother usually didn’t bother with human affairs, but the demons that were released during that time could have had a potentially devastating effect on her plans. So we intervened, some.”  
“Your life is truly fascinating.” LaFontaine says and shakes their head, “Wait, you were able to perform the ritual even being a…” She trails off.  
“Being a what?” Carmilla asks with a scowl.  
“Well, with being a vampire and all.” LaFontaine finishes.  
“And what do you think a vampire is?” Carmilla asks.  
“I honestly have no idea.” LaFontaine replies.  
“Well I’m not a demon, I have a soul.” Carmilla says with a huff and crosses her arms.  
“Noted.” LaFontaine says.   
“What do we need for his ritual?” Perry asks.  
“This isn’t some kind of blood sacrifice kind of thing is it?” Danny asks.  
Carmilla shakes her head, “No Xena, it’s just a regular ritual.”  
“Well with you, you never know.” Danny says with a shrug and Carmilla scowls at her.  
“According to the book, we need an altar, an athame, which is like a ceremonial dagger, objects representing the four elements, earth, wind, water, and fire, and a tau robe.” LaFontaine tells them.   
“I bet most of things the Occult club has.” Danny says.  
“It also states that since an Incubus is considered a demon of the air, or the storm, we should weaken it by bolstering the element opposed to air, which is earth. We need drums, because that is considered the instrument of the earth, and the Tau robes should be black, green, yellow, or brown. Also, it’s even better if the athame’s blade is made of iron or lead and the hilt has either onyx, jasper, or quartz set into it.” LaFontaine finishes.  
“It’s going to take a while to collect those items.” Laura says, “Perry, Danny, and Kirsch, do you think you can be in charge of collecting up the items from the occult club.”  
“Uh yeah, sure, if you write down a list.” Danny says.  
“It’s alright, I’ve got it memorized already.” Perry says, “But I can write it down for you if you’d like.” She pulls out a pen and paper from what essentially seems like thin air and then begins to quickly jot down a list for Danny and Kirsch.  
“Uh, thanks.” Danny says, scratching her head at what she just saw.  
“So that’s taken care of. I assume we’ll probably be performing the ritual here, so we somehow need to get Phil to this room and trap him here. Does the book say anything about trapping Incubuses…Incubi? Whatever, you know what I mean.” Laura says.  
“A traditional circle of salt should trap him. Also, he should be weakened by iron and palo santo, a special type of wood native to South America.” LaFontaine says.  
“So we weaken him with iron, I bash him over the head with something, knock him out, we drag him back here where we tie him up, and throw him into a circle of salt. Sounds simple enough to me.” Carmilla says with a smirk, sauntering over the Laura where she drapes her arm over her shoulder.  
“I’m a little concerned about his abilities though.” Laura says, “He’s an incubus right? They seduce women. I don’t want to be seduced and attacked like Martina and Naomi.”  
“Well shouldn’t the iron take care of that?” Carmilla asks.  
LaFontaine shrugs, “I don’t know. I wouldn’t risk it though. It just says the iron weakens him, doesn’t say it gets rid of his powers.”  
“So, how do we not get seduced?” Laura asks.  
“My guess is, his power works using pheromones and pheromones work through the nasal passages. If we can plug up our noses before we attempt to capture him, we should be good.” LaFontaine tells them.  
“Should be?” Carmilla says, “I don’t like should be, bookworm.”  
“Well, I’m sorry, should be is all I got.” LaFontaine replies.  
Laura claps her hands together, “Alright, well we sort of have a plan, we’ll have to iron out the details, but we have something. Good work guys!”  
Carmilla groans, “This is going to go so badly, isn’t it.”  
“Shush you.” Laura says with a grin, giving Carmilla a peck on the cheek.  
“I’m going to need more than that to silence me.” Carmilla says, her eyes hungry.  
“And that’s my cue to leave.” Danny grumbles and gets up, “Come on abominable snowman, let’s get out of here.” She says, helping Kirsch to his feet.  
“Wait, Danny, before you go, you visited Gwen yesterday right?” Laura asks and Danny nods, “How is she?”  
Danny sighs, “She’s fine. A bit beat up, but her werewolf side gives her a heightened healing factor, so she’s recovering quickly. She actually should be out of the hospital shortly.”  
“That’s good to hear.” Laura says, relieved, “Give her our best and see if she’s up for more visitors before she gets out.”  
Danny nods, “Will do.” And then drags Kirsch out of the room as she leaves.  
“We’re going to go too.” Perry says, “It’s getting late.”  
“And we’re pretty tired.” LaFontaine says, stretching and yawning, “But we’ll see you guys tomorrow?”  
“Yeah, we’ll start making more definitive plans then.” Laura says, “Good work today guys. We did it!” LaFontaine gives her a thumbs up and then they walk out of the room with Perry, arms around each other’s waists.  
Laura sighs, feeling somewhat content. Sure they’ve still got to capture and banish a demon and sure they still have to figure out how the Dean is involved in all of this, but at least they’re one step closer to figuring this whole mess out.  
Carmilla smiles down at Laura, seeing her somewhat more relaxed than she has been for the past few days.  
“You seem happy.” Carmilla comments.  
“I am.” Laura says, “I mean we have a direction now, somewhere to go, something to do.”  
“Ah see, and here I was hoping your happiness had something to do with me.” Carmilla says in a mocking tone.  
Laura looks up at her and smiles wide, “But Carm, it has everything to do with you. You’ve been my rock in all of this, constantly there for me, guiding me, helping me. Without you I don’t think I could have done it. So thank you.”  
Carmilla looks taken aback, surprised by the sudden confession. She looks somewhat embarrassed, “It was nothing, Cupcake.”  
“It wasn’t nothing.” Laura says and bounds to her feet and wraps Carmilla up in a tight embrace, “I love you Carmilla.”  
Carmilla stiffens for a moment and then melts into her hug, wrapping her own arms around Laura, “I love you too, Laura.”


	21. Captured

2/21/15  
Laura sits in front of the computer with LaFontaine and Perry behind her on Laura’s bed and Carmilla sitting next to her. There’s a soft knock on the door and then Danny walks in with a big grin on her face.   
“Come on everyone put your hands together and start clapping.” Danny says, her smile growing every second as she holds the door open and a beat up looking Gwen hobbles her way into the room on crutches, “Because right here, right now we have Gwen, the mighty singing werewolf!” Danny continues in her best announcer voice. She then cups her hands over her mouth and begins to make cheering noises.  
Gwen gives her an annoyed look as she makes her way inside the room and then rolls her eyes as everyone begins to clap, including Carmilla, and it’s only like 45% sarcastically. Gwen has a broken leg, which is set into a cast, she has some bandages covering various other wounds on her body, especially wrapped around her broken, but healing ribs. Her face is pretty bruised, with the left side a deep shade of purple and her left eye swollen. She has a few smaller cuts here and there which are bandaged as well.   
Gwen blushes looking embarrassed and then shoots Danny an annoyed look, “Oh my god, would you shut up.” Danny laughs and Gwen just shakes her head as she makes her way towards the bed. Perry rushing over to help her with her crutches as she sits down. Gwen thanks her and then continues, “I just walked into a room, I didn’t do a triple flip or round off or whatever, I’m not good with gymnastic terms, you know what I mean.”   
Danny looks down at her still grinning, “Oh come on, be less grumpy. You’re out of the hospital. You’re alright. Let me cheer you on. You’ve made great strides in the last week. Last week you were unconscious and couldn’t breathe on your own, now you’re walking, that’s applause worthy in my book.”  
“I’ll be less grumpy when I’m in less pain, although being out of the hospital is nice.” Gwen says, “But as for getting better, I didn’t do anything. It’s this whole werewolf resilience, healing factor, whatever you want to call it. All I did was get bitten by a werewolf, my body did the rest.”  
“You saved my life.” Danny says, “And probably the lives of everyone in this room.”  
“Probably the lives of everyone on campus.” Perry adds.  
“You guys are being dramatic.” Gwen says with a shrug and then winces. Danny rushes forward to help her, but she waves her off, “I got wacked with a mace, that doesn’t mean I saved anyone.”  
“Oh come on, take the credit will you.” Danny says.  
Gwen sighs, “Fine. I saved some people, I guess.”  
“She’s even grumpier than Carmilla is usually.” Laura says which earns her a huff from Carmilla, “What’s up?”  
“Oh, she’s been like this for a few days now.” Danny says, “Only when she’s in pain though, which means she probably didn’t take her pain killers.” Danny then gives her a pointed look.  
“They make my head feel fuzzy.” Gwen says with a pout.  
“Take your pain meds Gwen.” Danny says.  
“What are you, my mother?” Gwen asks.  
“I’ll stop acting like your mother, when you stop acting like a child.” Danny counters, “Take your pain meds.”  
“Fine. Nag.” Gwen says and fumbles with a bottle of medicine. After several seconds of having some difficulty, what with several of her fingers on her right hand being splinted, Danny grabs it out of her hands and pops it open for her.  
“I could have done it.” Gwen says with a pout.  
“I’m sure you could have, but I could do it before it gets dark out.” Danny says and hands her two pills.   
Perry quickly grabs a cup and fills it with water, bringing it back for Gwen to drink from. Gwen nods and thanks her again and then swallows the pills.  
“Happy?” Gwen says once she’s done and then lies back on the bed.  
“Very.” Danny replies.  
“So Danny’s been keeping me updated on what’s going on around here. I heard the snowball fight thing went well and that Phil is an incubus. She told me the Dean might also somehow be involved.” Gwen says as she lies on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, “This whole place is so fucked up.”  
“You’ve got that right.” Carmilla says.  
“So what’s the plan then?” Gwen asks.  
“We’ve started to gather up the supplies for the ritual.” Perry says, “The Occult Club has been very accommodating.”  
“We just need to capture Phil.” LaFontaine says, “We should figure out his schedule, see when we can catch him alone.”  
“He likes to spar by himself in the North Gym on Sunday nights from eight to ten.” Gwen says and they all turn to look at her, she realizes they’re staring, “What? Martina had a crush on him, she used to talk about how she would visit him, and watch him spar on occasions.”  
“That poor girl.” Perry says with a frown.  
“So Sunday night? That’s tomorrow. Do you think you guys will have all the supplies by then?” Laura asks.  
“We should, yes.” Perry says with a nod.  
“Who is going to perform the ritual?” LaFontaine asks.  
“I can.” Carmilla says raising her hand, “I know it pretty much already, I’ll just need to look through that book, make sure I’ve got all the steps down.” LaFontaine nods and begins digging through their bag for the book.   
“And about capturing him, LaFontaine and I can distract him with the iron, while Carmilla sneaks up behind him and knocks him out.” Laura says.  
“I’d like it better if I was there and you weren’t a distraction.” Danny says.  
“You guys have to collect up the ritual stuff.” Laura says, “We can handle him.”  
“I’ll make sure she’s alright, besides she can handle herself.” Carmilla replies.  
“I know she can handle herself.” Danny snaps back at her, “Doesn’t stop me from being worried.”  
“Come on, let’s not have this argument again.” Gwen says, sitting up in the bed slowly, “Laura, LaFontaine, and Carmilla can handle capturing Phil. You, Perry, and Kirsch and finish gathering the stuff. I’ll set up the circle of salt here. We have a good plan, let’s not fight over it. Agreed?”  
They all nod, “Agreed.”  
Laura turns back to the camera, “So we have a plan. And if you hadn’t caught on already, Phil is dangerous. If you see him, stay away. That’s for your own safety. Stay safe everyone.”

End of video

2/22/15  
Laura, Carmilla, Perry, LaFontaine, Danny, and Gwen are all sitting around in the room, gathered around an unconscious Phil. Phil is tied to a chair, he has several items made of iron tied around his neck, and draped over his lap. The chair itself is sitting in the middle of a salt circle in the middle of the room.   
Laura looks to the camera with a smile, “So the plan went off without a hitch.”  
“So we head out to the gym with our iron and our nose clips to prevent Phil from seducing us. And Laura and I went through the front of the gym, while Carmilla snuck in the back.” LaFontaine says, “And like Gwen said, Phil was there, by himself, sparring. So we walk up to him and he looks at us confused.”  
“He goes, ‘What are you hotties doing here? Coming to check me out while I work out.’” Laura says mimicking a frat guy voice.  
“And then Laura shakes her head and is like, ‘Nope. We’ve come to stop you.’” LaFontaine says and he looks at us even more confused and then we hold out the iron items. I had Perry’s old cast iron frying pan and Laura had apparently stolen some of the iron fireplace pokers from the come on room area.”  
“You’re going to have to return that.” Perry says.  
“I know.” Laura replies, “And so, we hold out the stuff and he looks at it, completely baffled, like he can’t believe what is happening. And then he tries to make a break for it. He bolts, but he slams right into Carmilla, who essentially clotheslines him as he’s sprinting away from us. He crashes right into her arm and goes down. Then she whacks him over the head once and he’s down for the count.”  
“We get him back here where Gwen has already set up the salt circle and we tie him up and throw some more iron stuff on him.” LaFontaine says, “And voila!” They gesture to the chair where Phil is sitting, still unconscious.  
“Incubus captured!” Laura says with a grin.  
“Are you going to say that every time?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Absolutely.” Laura replies with a smirk and then turns back to the camera, “So, we’re not wearing our nose plugs now because we think the iron does actually remove that ability from him. Plus, he’s unconscious and LaFontaine believes it’s a conscious thing that he does. LaFontaine is going to do some tests to see if he’s pumping out pheromones once he wakes up. Until he does though, we’re going to go without the nose plugs.”  
“So wait, like, with these pheromones, can he like seduce dudes too?” Kirsch asks.  
Laura shrugs, “I don’t know, maybe.”  
“Why, have you felt the desire to kiss him?” Danny asks with a smirk.  
Kirsch shakes his head, “No, bro. I have not.”  
“It may not work on guys. Incubi tend to prey on women.” LaFontaine replies.  
Kirsch nods, “I feel kind of bad though. I mean, he’s like a Zeta bro. I don’t like tying him up and doing whatever we’re going to do to him.”  
“But he’s not him Kirsch, he’s possessed by a demon.” Perry replies.  
“Potentially. We’re not sure if that’s true or not.” LaFontaine says.  
“Right, he could just be a demon.” Laura says.  
“So you’re saying there’s a chance the real Phil is in there somewhere?” Kirsch asks.  
“Yeah, maybe.” Laura replies.  
“So, does that mean he’s like been in there the whole time? Like this whole semester he’s been trapped by a demon?” Kirsch asks.  
They all look at each other frown. Some of them shrug. They hadn’t really thought about that.  
“We don’t know Kirsch.” Perry replies, “But if he has been, well he’ll probably need his bros to help him out.”  
Kirsch nods, “That’s like so messed up. To be trapped like that. Do you think he can hear us?”  
“I don’t know.” Laura says.  
“Maybe.” LaFontaine replies.  
Kirsch looks at Phil, “Phil, if you’re in there bro, know this, we will get you out, we will save you. And we will be there for you once you’re free. A Zeta is always there for another Zeta.”  
They all nod solemnly, noting that every once in a while Kirsch says something profound.   
A few moments later there is a groan and Phil’s eyes begin to flutter.   
“Everyone, plug your noses.” Laura hisses out and everyone grabs their nose plugs and puts them on.  
Phil slowly awakens and groggily looks around the room at the people gathered there. He looks completely confused.  
He suddenly jerks uprights and realizes he’s tied down. He tries to break free of his bonds, straining at them, but he’s unable to get out. He tries to break free again, jerking about violently. This earns a growl from both Carmilla and Gwen, the others just inch in closer.  
Phil stops moving and looks around the room at everyone again.  
“What the hell is going on?” He shouts at them, “Let me go!” He tries to free himself again, but gets another growl from Carmilla and Gwen. He looks at them surprised and seems to note Gwen’s sudden shift in eye color when she snarls.  
“Shut up and stop moving.” Carmilla snaps at him in a dangerously low voice. He quickly obeys her.  
“Now this isn’t going to be a very pleasant experience for you, but I’m thinking that’s kind of a good thing considering what you’ve done.” Laura says harshly.  
“What I’m done?” Phil asks, “What the hell are you talking about? Have I done something to you?”  
“Don’t play dumb.” Gwen snaps.  
Phil looks around at all of them again, his face not betraying any signs of understanding, he finally spots Kirsch and his eyes widen, “Kirsch? Bro? What the hell is going on here? What are these crazy chicks talking about? Why am I tied to a fucking chair?”  
“Bro, I know this is like totally not cool and everything, but bro, you’ve been doing some totally not cool stuff. And we need to like, stop you.” Kirsch says.  
“What not cool stuff are you talking about?” Phil asks, starting to get frustrated, “I have no fucking clue what you people are on about!”  
Gwen gets up, hobbling forward toward the computer. She then pulls up photos of Martina and Naomi.  
“Do these girls mean anything to you?” Gwen asks.  
Phil looks over at the screen and frowns, “Uh, those are the two girls who were murdered. But what does that have to do with me?”  
“They have to do with you, because you murdered them.” Gwen snarls out, “You tricked them into sleeping with you and then you murdered them, ripped their hearts right out of their chests.”  
Phil’s eyes widen and he begins to shake his head, “No, no, no. No way. It wasn’t me. I didn’t kill those girls. I couldn’t. Martina was my friend! I liked her! I never would have hurt her!”  
“Oh yeah? Then why did people see you going into the girls’ rooms before they were killed? And what were you conspiring about with the Dean? And why did the salt burn you when it touched you.” Laura asks, “Admit it, you murdered those girls you filthy incubus demony bastard.”  
Phil looks stunned, “What? What the hell are you talking about? Conspiring with the Dean? Salt? Incubus? Isn’t that like a band?”  
“Alright, that’s enough.” Carmilla says, “He’s obviously never going to admit to what he’s done. Let’s just get this over with. Where is all the stuff?” Perry leaps to her feet and pulls out several boxes from underneath Laura’s bed.  
“Over with? Get what over with?” Phil asks, “What are you going to do to me?”  
Gwen smiles, “Here I wrote a little song for this occasion. If I didn’t have broken fingers, I would play it for you on my guitar, but I think singing it will get the point across.” She clears her throat and Carmilla rolls her eyes. She then begins to sing.

You snuck around and killed some people  
You that you could get away with it  
Your heinous crimes that have no equal  
But now you’ve landed yourself in deep shit

Now we’ve figured out your evil plan  
So sit right there and quake in fear  
Because we know you are not a man  
But a monster about to disappear

So go to hell  
Because the power of Christ  
Is about to compel,   
You  
So say your farewells  
Because you’re ending up  
Where only the worst dwell  
And this going to fucking hurt  
And I really hope it fucking hurts

I know Carmilla hit you in the face  
I just felt like bringing up that fact  
I wish saw her put you in your place  
So quit this little innocent act

I hope in hell, you get your due reward  
Like a pineapple shoved up your….

“Oookaaay!” Perry says quickly interrupting Gwen, “I think that’s enough of that.”  
Carmilla scowls, “Aw come on, for once it was getting good.”  
“Here’s the altar.” Perry says, ignoring Carmilla and unfolding a small wooden altar in front of her, “And here is the tau robe.” She pulls out a long black, hooded robe from one of the boxes, “I got it in black, because I figured you’d like that best.”  
Carmilla can’t help, but smile at her, although it comes off as somewhat of a sneer. She takes the robe and then mutters a, “Thanks.” She begins to put it on.  
Perry then takes out a small, silver chalice with a pentagram on it and places that on the altar. She then fills it with a crystal clear looking water. She then takes out a long, white taper candle, placing it in an iron candlestick, and then lights the candle. She also lays out several more candles around the room and lights them as well. She then takes a large chunk of quartz out from the box and places it on the altar and lastly she takes out a long white feather and places it on the altar.  
She then takes out an intricately decorated athame, with an iron blade and onyx stones in its hilt and hands it off to Carmilla. Phil flinches when he sees the knife.  
“What is that for? Are you going to stab me? What is this? Are you going to sacrifice me?” Phil asks, but no one answers.  
The last thing Perry takes out is a small ceremonial drum and two mallets. These she hands off to Gwen who looks at her confused.  
“Why are you handing these to me?” Gwen asks.  
“You can play drums, can’t you?” Perry asks and Gwen shakes her head, “But you play guitar?”  
“I don’t play drums though.” Gwen says, “I mean, I could probably tap out a beat…but I also kind of have broken fingers.”  
“Here, I can do it bro.” Kirsch says and reaches for the drums, “I play drums.”  
“You do?” Danny asks and Kirsch nods.  
Perry shrugs and then hands the instrument over to Kirsch.  
“So do I like, just play any beat?” Kirsch asks.  
“Just something slow and steady.” Perry replies.  
“Right.” Kirsch says and begins to tap out a low, even beat on the drums, setting the mood.  
Perry then walks over to the light switch and turns out the light. The room is suddenly plunged into darkness except for the candles around the room, which flicker now and then, casting odd shadows on the walls.   
“What the hell is this? What are you guys doing?” Phil asks, “You’re crazy, you’re all crazy!” He begins to try and escape from his chair again, but stops when Gwen snarls at him.   
Carmilla, standing in front of the altar, with her tau robe, clutching the athame, and with the light of the candle casting shadows on her face looks incredibly sinister. She smiles at Phil and he gulps.  
“Shall we begin?” Carmilla asks and everyone nods, “Alright then, please don’t interrupt me as I perform the ritual.” They all nod.  
Carmilla then closes her eyes and there is silence, except for Kirsch on the drums, for at least thirty seconds as she just seems to be standing there breathing. Laura is almost tempted to ask her what she’s doing, but she refrains from doing so.   
Finally, she opens her eyes and holds the athame, dagger pointed down, between her two hands and above her head. She brings the dagger down in front of her, until the hilt is touching her forehead just above her eyes.  
She speaks low, but forcefully, “Ateh.” The word seems to vibrate through the room.   
“What the fuck? What are you doing? Stop! Let me go!” Phil shouts and struggles, but this doesn’t break Carmilla’s focus. But it does cause Danny to grab a sock and shove it in his mouth to get him to be quiet.  
Carmilla then brings the blade of the athame down until the hilt is right at her navel. She speaks out, “Malkuth” in the same manner as before.  
She then brings the athame up to her right shoulder and says, “Ve Geburah.” She brings the blade to her left shoulder and says, “Ve Gedulah.” She then brings the athame, with the blade pointed down to the center of her chest, as if in prayer, and says, “Le Olahm, Amen.”  
She then moves away from the altar and to the eastern edge of the circle of salt. Facing away from Phil, she takes the athame and begins to draw a pentagram in the air, starting at her left hip. Once she finishes drawing the pentagram in the air, she inhales deeply, raising her hands above her head. She then steps forward with her left foot and thrusts the dagger into the center of the pentagram, and speaks out, “IHVH”  
She then steps back and begins to draw a circle around the edges of the pentagram with the tip of the dagger starting at the top and moving clockwise to the south. Once she reaches the bottom she takes another deep breath, thrusts the blade forward, and says, “Adonai.”  
She then steps back and finishes the circle around the pentagram, taking a deep breath, thrusting the blade out once more, and saying, “Adonai” again when she reaches the top.   
Moving to the south, west, and then east, she repeats the steps above, drawing a pentagram in the air at each cardinal direction, and speaking “Adonai” for the south, “Eheieh” for the west, and “Agla” for the north.  
She then spreads her arms out to her sides so her body forms a cross and says, “Before me Raphael. Behind me Gabriel. On my right hand, Michael. On my left hand, Auriel.” She then spreads her legs wider, her arms still out, and speaks, “For about me flames the pentagram and within me shines the six rayed star.”  
She then repeats the steps above, moving to the east, the south, the north, and the west, drawing a pentagram at each place.   
She then turns back towards Phil and then says, “Priinceps gloriosissime caelestis militae, sancte, Michael Archangele, defende nos in praelio et colluctatione, quae nobis, adversus principes et potestates, adversus mundi rectores tenebrarum harum, contra spiritualia nequitiae, in caelestibusus. Veni in auxilium hominum, quos Deus creavit inexterminabiles, et ad imaginem, similitudinis suae fecit, et a tyrannide diaboli emit pretio magno.” She then claps her hands together.  
She turns towards Phil, looking at him expectantly. He stares back at her wide eyed. She watches him and then frowns.  
“That should have worked.” Carmilla says.  
“What do you mean that should have worked?” Danny asks, “Was that it? Is it over?”  
“It’s over.” Carmilla replies.  
“But nothing happened.” Danny says.  
“I see that Clifford.” Carmilla snaps back at her.  
“Don’t get snippy with me because you performed the ritual wrong.” Danny counters.  
“I did not perform it wrong. I did everything perfectly.” Carmilla replies.  
“Then why is he still here?” Danny asks.  
“Well, how do we know it didn’t work?” LaFontaine asks, “We may be imagining some more violent exorcism because of TV and movies, when in reality it’s a quiet thing.”  
Carmilla shakes her head, “No, exorcising demons is nearly as violent as they show on TV. Usually there’s a lot of thrashing and screaming and…oh my god, knuckle dragger, if you don’t stop with the drums I will beat you over the head with it.”  
Kirsch abruptly stops playing the drums, “Sorry.”  
“Man, you’ve got a thing about instruments.” Gwen says, “Do you just hate music, is that what it is? Do you also hate puppies and rainbows?”  
Carmilla scowls at her, “I do not hate music.”  
“She didn’t deny the puppies or rainbows thing though.” Gwen whispers to Danny who laughs. Carmilla looks ready to rip her throat out.  
“So, it didn’t work then?” Laura asks, changing the subject back to the ritual, “Why didn’t it work?”  
“I don’t know.” Carmilla says with a frown, “Maybe I did do something wrong.”  
LaFontaine shakes their head, “No, I’ve read through the ritual several times. As far as I can tell, you did everything perfectly.”  
“So then…what the hell happened?” Danny asks.  
“Maybe…and I hate to suggest this, but maybe he isn’t an incubus.” Perry says, “Maybe he’s not behind this.”  
“Maybe we should ask him.” Carmilla says and rips the sock out of his mouth, “What the hell happened here?”  
He looks at all of them, still a bit stunned and says, “You’re asking me what went wrong with your creepy satanic ritual?”  
“It’s not satanic.” LaFontaine counters.  
“Whatever, you people are crazy.” Phil says.  
“And you’re about to get a hot poker shoved in your eye socket if you don’t tell me why this didn’t work.” Carmilla snarls at him and he looks at her fearfully.  
“It didn’t work because I’m not an incubus or a demon or anything like that. I’m just a guy.” Phil says.  
“I hate to suggest this, given all the work we’ve put into this, but perhaps he is telling the truth. Perhaps he isn’t a demon.” Perry suggests.  
“But all signs pointed to him being a demon. Even the salt burned him for John Constantine’s sake!” Laura shouts.  
“Salt? Salt doesn’t burn me. I put salt in my food all the time.” Phil replies.  
“Then why did it burn you during the snowball fight? Huh?” Laura counters.  
“That was you guys? Dude, my arm still has blisters on it.” Phil says, attempting to show them, even though his arms were bound, “But that can’t have been salt. Salt doesn’t burn me.”  
“Likely story.” Laura snaps.  
“I mean, there is a way we could find out.” LaFontaine says and lifts the salt shaker off the desk. They then fling a bunch of it, into the circle right at Phil, who tenses up expecting it to burn as it contacts his skin. But nothing happens. They all sit there in silence for a moment.  
Then Phil shouts, “See!”  
“Try again.” Laura says.  
LaFontaine takes a handful this time and practically presses it into the exposed flesh of his arm. Still nothing happens. They then pull back and frown, “Okay…so probably not an incubus then.”  
“Wait, wait, wait, then why did his arm burn before?” Laura asks, “This makes no sense again.”  
“Maybe some of the snowballs got mixed up.” LaFontaine suggests, “Do we have any more of that oil or the silver.”  
“The oil we’ve got. We used up the silver though.” Danny says.  
“This cup is silver.” Perry says lifting the chalice off the altar.  
“Try the oil first.” Laura says and LaFontaine takes the container of oil from Danny and dumps some of it onto Phil’s skin. Nothing happens.  
“Try the silver.” Laura says, starting to get more and more nervous.  
LaFontaine hands the oil back and takes the silver chalice from Perry. They then press it to Phil’s skin. Once again, nothing happens.  
“Maybe the chalice isn’t real silver.” Laura suggests.  
“How do we find out?” Perry asks.   
“If only we had a werewolf in the room to test it on.” Carmilla says nonchalantly, looking at her nails as she does so. They then all look at Gwen who frowns and shakes her head.  
“I hate you guys. Fine. Hand it over.” Gwen says and she sticks out her good hand. LaFontaine presses it lightly into her palm and there is a soft sizzling sound masked by Gwen’s yelp as she pulls her hand back, “It’s real.” She then nurses her hand for a few seconds while it heals.  
They then all sit around in silence until Laura says, “What the hell?”

End of video


	22. Surprise!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter has some unpleasant descriptions if you're squeamish.

2/22/15  
The video resumes where it left off, showing them all gathered around Phil.  
“So…does that mean I can go now?” Phil asks  
“No.” They all say at once and he slumps back in the chair.  
“This is ridiculous, I’m not a monster. You can’t keep me here.” Phil says indignantly.  
“Shush.” Perry says to him, but then sighs, “Well, he does have a point. We can’t keep him here indefinitely, especially since we now have no idea what to do with him.”  
“He could still be the murderer.” Laura says, “Right?”   
“Highly unlikely if he’s human. At least, he’s probably not the one who actually committed them, though he may still be an accomplice.” LaFontaine replies.  
“And we know he’s somehow involved with the Dean, who is somehow involved with the murders.” Danny says, “We can’t let him go just yet.”  
“I say we let me torture him until he tells us what we want to know.” Carmilla suggests and they all look at her like she’s crazy, except Phil who looks terrified.  
“We’re not torturing him Carm.” Laura says.  
“Yeah bloodsucker, I don’t know about you and all your vampire ways, but we don’t torture people.” Danny says.  
“One, you guys tortured me last semester by keeping me from drinking blood. Two, humans torture other humans all the time. You humans have come up with the most grotesque ways to torture people. And three..” Carmilla says turning towards Phil, “You don’t seem particularly phased by the fact that I’m a vampire or that she’s a werewolf.”  
“I’ve been going to this school for a few years now. I’ve seen some weird shit. I think you being a vampire and her being a werewolf are near the bottom of that list.” Phil says, “Besides, I have supernatural friends.”  
They all nod because it sounds completely reasonable.   
“So what are we doing with him?” Perry asks.  
“We can’t let him go.” Carmilla replies.  
“Not until we find out how he’s involved with the murders.” Laura says.  
“And how do we do that?” Kirsch asks.   
“I don’t know.” Laura says with a shrug, “Hold him here until he talks?”

2/24/15  
“It’s now day two of holding Phil hostage.” Laura says to the camera with Phil in the background, is mouth duct taped shut, “And he still isn’t talking.”  
“Well, he’s talking.” LaFontaine says from the bed, “But he’s not talking about what we want.”  
“I bet I could get him to talk.” Carmilla says from her bed as she flips through a book.  
“We’re not torturing him Carm.” Laura repeats and sighs, “Even if it would make things go faster.”  
She then gets up and removes the duct tape from Phil’s mouth, “So, are you ready to talk yet?”  
“There are people who are out there looking for me, right now. If they find you here, with me tied up like this, let’s just say it won’t end up every well for you.” Phil tells her.  
“That sounds a lot like a threat.” Carmilla says, getting up from the bed in one smooth movement, “Are you really in the right position to be threatening my girlfriend.”   
Phil looks over at Carmilla and gulps.   
“Now, are you ready to talk?” Laura asks.  
He shakes his head and keeps his mouth shut. Laura sighs and puts the duct tape back on.  
“Alright, let’s keep waiting.” Laura says.

Cut to that night. 

Laura and Carmilla are asleep in Laura’s bed, cuddled up close to one another. Phil is still tied to the chair, but he seems to be moving his arms up and down, like he’s trying to break free. Suddenly, there’s a jerking motion and the ropes fall away. Phil leaps to his feet and makes his way towards the door, sprinting full tilt, he wrenches it open.  
The sound of the door wakes up both Laura and Carmilla, though they sleepily ignore it. Then the door slams shut and Laura sits bolt upright in bed. She looks over at the chair to see that Phil is gone and shouts, “Carm!”  
Carmilla is awake in a flash. She looks to the chair and is gone in a blur of black. She returns a moment later, hauling Phil back into the room by the back of his shirt. He struggles with her, but he’s no match for her strength.   
“Sit down Philly boy.” She says as she forces him down into the chair and ties him back up again, “We’re not through with you yet.” She duct tapes his mouth once more and then climbs back into bed with Laura. 

2/25/15  
Everyone is gathered in Laura and Carmilla’s room again except for Kirsch. They’re all sitting around debating what to do with Phil.  
“He still hasn’t said anything?” LaFontaine asks.  
“He’s threatened us a couple more times with action by some unknown people looking for him.” Laura replies.  
“It’s all very irritating.” Carmilla says.   
“I hate to say this again, but we can’t keep him here forever.” Perry says.  
“Mother Hen is right; we can’t just sit here with him. Someone will find out eventually.” Carmilla says, “I suggest we do something a bit more proactive.”  
“I hate to agree with the vampire, but sitting around waiting for him to talk isn’t working.” Gwen says, “I’m not saying we torture him, but we need a new approach.”  
“Any ideas?” LaFontaine asks the room and gets no answer, “That’s what I…” They start, but are interrupted by a knock on the door. The all sit in silence, unsure of what to do. Then suddenly, whoever is behind it bursts through.  
“I’m not waiting for you guys to let me in, I know you’re in there and I…” Gerdy says as she steps inside, clutching something in her hands. She stops when she sees Phil tied to the chair with duct tape around his mouth. He looks at her wide eyed, practically pleading.  
“Is this some kind of kinky thing?” Gerdy asks and then shakes her head, “Nevermind, I don’t want to know.”  
“Who’s this chick?” Gwen asks and Gerdy scowls.  
“Who am I? Who are you?” Gerdy counters.  
“Gwen, this is Gerdy. Gerdy, Gwen.” Laura says introducing them.  
“Oh right, Danny told me about you, the Mare. Cool.” Gwen says.  
“Yes, that’s me.” Gerdy says, “I don’t know you though, so it seems kind of an invasion to my privacy that you are all spreading around that I’m a mare.” She glares at everyone in the room.  
“Sorry Gerdy, we won’t tell anyone else, we promise.” Laura says, “Um…so what are you doing here?”  
“Right, well, I know you guys are crazy and everything, but like, I’ve started to feel kind of sick this week. And we Mares don’t get the flu. And I know sometimes when you’re pregnant, you can get sick. And that made me think of you guys and your crazy theory about the Dean being involved in some crazy conspiracy and about the girls who were murdered being pregnant. And so, I decided to take that pregnancy test you guys gave me. And well…” She says and holds her hand out, showing them the pregnancy test she’s holding. It’s positive.  
“You’re pregnant?” LaFontaine says.  
“I mean, I guess so.” Gerdy says, “I mean it shouldn’t even be possible.”  
“Why? Have you not…you know…” Laura begins.  
“No, I’ve had sex, plenty of sex. With guys and stuff if that was your next question.” Gerdy says, “But I always used protection.”  
“Maybe it broke?” LaFontaine suggested.  
“I’m on the pill.” Gerdy adds.  
“Oh.” LaFontaine says.  
“The pill and condoms and spermicide. Ladies, I do not want to fucking get pregnant.” Gerdy says, “So, it like shouldn’t be possible and yet this here thing says that I’m pregnant.”  
“Could be a false positive.” Danny suggests, “Those happen right?”  
“This is the second one I’ve tried.” Gerdy says, “Also positive.”  
“Alright, alright. So you’re pregnant even though you shouldn’t be pregnant.” LaFontaine says thinking, “You said you were feeling sick? How long have you been feeling sick?”  
“I don’t know, like three, four days.” Gerdy says.  
“And do you know this guy?” Gwen asks, pointing to Phil.  
Gerdy looks at him and then shakes her head, “No…not really. I mean I’ve seen him around, but I don’t know him.”  
“Crap, so maybe Phil isn’t behind this.” Laura says, “That means someone else is out there murdering girls and you…”  
Gerdy clutches her stomach, “Oof, uh can I use your bathroom, I feel like I’m going to hurl.”  
“Yeah, sure, go ahead.” Laura says. Gerdy rushes out of the room and retching sounds can be heard from the bathroom.  
“Maybe Phil isn’t behind this, but we think Gerdy might be next right?” Perry says, “We have to protect her.”  
“And how is the Dean involved in all this?” Gwen asks, “Carmilla says she saw Phil and the Dean talking about the murders, they even suggested Gerdy as the next victim.”  
Laura thinks for a moment and then her eyes widen, “Oh my god!” She slaps her hand to her forehead and turns to Phil, “You’re not the murderer.” She then turns to the rest of the room, “Guys, he’s not the murderer.”  
“Okay Creampuff, we need a little more. Why isn’t he the murderer?” Carmilla asks.  
“He’s not the murderer because he’s been investigating the case, just like we have. Him and the new Dean, they’ve been investigating the murders too.” Laura says and then turns to Phil, “I’m right aren’t I?” She asks and rips the duct tape off his mouth.  
He looks up at her and then sighs, “Yes, you’re right.”  
Laura claps her hands together, “Boom! Look who’s going to be an awesome investigative journalist!”  
“Wait, wait, wait, you and the Dean are investigating he murders too? What?” LaFontaine asks.  
Phil takes a deep breath and then sighs, “Alright, I guess the cat is out of the bag now. I work for a secret government organization that monitors, tracks, and sometimes hunts down supernatural creatures.”  
“Holy crapsticks! Like the initiative?” Laura asks.  
“The what?” Phil asks confused.  
“Never mind.” Laura says.  
“Okay, well Silas is a hotspot for supernatural activity and has been on our radar since the inception of our organization in the 60’s.” Phil continues.  
“Like a hell mouth?” Laura asks, getting more excited by the minute.   
“Cupcake.” Carmilla scolds her for interrupting Phil again.  
“Sorry.” Laura says, “Continue.”  
“I don’t know what a hell mouth is.” Phil says, but when no on answers he keeps going, “Alright, well like I was saying Silas has been on our radar for a while now, but we’ve had great difficulty getting agents in, thanks to your mother.” He says pointing to Carmilla, “She seemed to have knack for spotting our operatives even before they’d even set foot on this campus.”  
Carmilla shrugs, “For all her faults, she was an incredibly shrewd woman. Also, maniacal, manipulative, and downright evil, but shrewd.”  
“We tried on and off for decades to get into this campus, with minor successes here and there, but mostly failures. My enrollment two years ago was considered quite a huge success. Only two others agents had ever successfully been enrolled at Silas without your mother detecting them. We knew something strange was going on at this campus, beyond just the normal supernatural creatures that wandered these halls, the forests, and the surrounding area.”  
“Normal supernatural creatures? Isn’t that like an oxymoron?” Danny asks.  
Phil laughs, “Well kind of, what I mean is that Silas naturally has a larger supernatural population than most other schools, but that doesn’t make it evil automatically. It just makes it…different, with a different set of problems and rules. But it was more than that, there was something else going on. Girls were disappearing every twenty years. There was an inordinately large vampire population. And there were rumors, rumblings of an ancient evil that lived beneath the school. But none of it could be verified, none of it could be solved. No matter what we tried, we failed. And then..”  
“Then my mother died.” Carmilla replies.  
“Thanks to you guys from what I’ve heard.” Phil says.  
“It wasn’t just us, but yes we played a hand in it.” Perry says.  
Phil nods, “So finally we had a way in. And with your mother dead and a sudden vacuum of power, we were afraid that vacuum would be filled by some other super powerful evil entity. So we acted fast. We got one of our top operatives to be hired as the Dean and began setting up our own security force in the guise of campus security. We even got some more agents enrolled so they could walk among the student population without being suspicious. And suddenly, we were in charge of a whole university, supernatural or not, that is a large responsibility.”  
“And with the supernatural cherry on top of the university Sunday, you had your hands quite full no doubt.” LaFontaine says.  
Phil nods, “Yeah, we did. And we didn’t think we were doing too bad a job of keeping things under control…for like three weeks.”  
“And then my roommate got murdered.” Gwen says.  
“And then your roommate got murdered.” Phil repeats, “And all hell broke loose, so to speak.”  
“Literally and figuratively I suppose.” Laura says with a shrug.  
“Yes, the Friday the 13th fiasco.” Phil says shaking his head, “It’s one disaster after another with this school. We try to focus on one fire and suddenly another one springs up somewhere else. We can’t keep a handle on all of it. Whether it’s the alchemy club and their various experiments, the library and it’s multitude of sinister layers, or the numerous and varied supernatural student population and wildlife, we just can’t keep it contained. And then on top of that, we have a string of violent murders going on. We don’t know how your mother did it, honestly.”  
“She swept it under the rug mostly or she killed people.” Carmilla replies, “Care much, much less about the students than you already do and that would still be too much in comparison.”  
“But we still had to investigate. And then we found out you were investigating too.” Phil says, “And we tried to stop you.”  
“Why stop us though? Why not tell us what was really going on?” Laura asks.  
“Because we are a secret organization, key word, secret. We’re not supposed to just go around telling students who we are and why we’re here. Plus, despite your good intentions, we can’t just have students running around solving murders and getting themselves into trouble, that’s our job.” Phil says, “Your job is to go to classes and enjoy being at school.”  
They all stared at him somewhat shocked.  
“What? What did I say?” Phil asks confused.  
“Nothing, it’s just…we’ve never had authority figures care about us like that before.” LaFontaine says.  
“Yeah, we’ve pretty much had to handle all the weird here by ourselves.” Laura continues.  
“We were always kind of alone in this.” Danny says.  
“So, it’s rather, um, strange to have you attempting to support us like that.” Perry says.  
“You guys are definitely not my mother.” Carmilla says with a smirk.  
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Phil says, “So yeah, there you have it. We’ve been investigating the murders too, but we obviously have been unable to stop them, like you.”  
“What have you figured out so far?” LaFontaine asks.  
“We’ve figured out…hold on, you mind untying me?” Phil says, “These ropes really chafe.”  
“Oh, yeah sure.” Laura says leaping to her feet, “We’re really sorry about all of this. We didn’t know. We thought we were, you know, stopping the bad guys, not tying government agents to a chair. Yikes. Are we going to get arrested? Or do you guys not do that? Are we going to get assassinated?” She begins to untie Phil.  
Phil laughs, “No, you don’t have to worry about any of that. The Dean will probably want to talk to all of you though.” Once his wrists are freed, he rubs at the red welts that were forming on them.  
He then stands up and stretches, popping a few tight joints.  
“Oh yeah, that feels good.” Phil says and then sits back down in the chair, “Okay, where was I?”  
“What have you figured out?” LaFontaine repeats.  
“Oh right. Well, we figured out that this creature goes after pregnant women. We then figured out it was attacking supernatural creatures, or well we think so. Two is too small a sample size, really. We know that it rips the hearts out of its victims. But we don’t know what it does with them. We think it eats them. We’re leaning towards this being a Pontianak.”  
“A Pontiac?” Laura asks.  
“No, Pontianak. It’s believed to be the ghost of a woman who died while pregnant, cursed to haunt this mortal realm and feed upon the hearts of other pregnant women and easily seducible men.”  
“Oh, yeah, we didn’t get that.” LaFontaine says.  
“Yeah, it sounds like you were leaning towards an incubus.” Phil says, “Not a bad thought, but we ruled them out because there was no….erm….residue at the crime scenes.”  
“Residue?” Laura asks.  
“Uh…well Incubi have sex with their victims before they eat their hearts.” Phil says, “And well…they’re male, with male parts…so….”  
“Ah, ah, got it. Yep, thank you. Got it.” Laura says blushing and Carmilla laughs.  
“Plus Incubi release certain distinctive pheromones and none of the chemicals usually associated with those pheromones were found in the room or on the body.” Phil says.  
“Pheromones! I knew it!” LaFontaine shouts.  
“We also thought werewolf or aswang.” Laura says.  
“Hmm, certain werewolves do eat hearts…it’s possible. But we found no hair at the scene.” Phil says, “Although, an Aswang, that might be it too. They tend to prefer children, but I’ve heard of some who go after fetuses.”  
“I hate to say this, but it could be some other nasty that’s taking hearts for some unknown purpose.” LaFontaine says, “Beyond just eating them.”  
“True, very true.” Phil says with a nod.  
“So what’s the…” Laura begins and then pauses for a minute thinking, “Where’s Gerdy? Is she still in the bathroom? She’s been in there a long time.”  
“I’ll go check on her.” Perry says and knocks on the door, “Gerdy…honey, are you alright?”   
“I don’t feel so well.” Gerdy says from behind the door. She can be heard getting up and making her way towards the door. She opens it up and everyone looks at her. She looks dreadful. Her skin is pale. She’s sweating profusely. She has heavy bags under her eyes. Her face looks gaunt.  
“Honey, why don’t you come lie down and I’ll make you some tea.” Perry says, ushering Gerdy towards Laura’s bed. Gerdy nods, but before she can lie down, she doubles over, clutching her abdomen. She lets out a shrill cry of pain as she does so.  
“Oh god, are you alright?” Laura asks moving towards her.   
Perry is already at Gerdy’s side, helping her stand. The pain seems to subside and Gerdy straightens up.  
“Ugh, I don’t know what that was. Shit, that hurt like a bitch.” Gerdy says as she sits on the end of Laura’s bed. She then suddenly doubles over again, clutching her abdomen, crying out in pain.  
“Oh man, what’s happening, do you think she’s having a…miscarriage.” Laura whispers the last word.  
“We have to get her to a hospital. This is not normal.” LaFontaine says.  
“Come on, let’s get her to my car.” Danny says.  
Gerdy tries to stand up, but her legs won’t support her and she collapsed back down onto the bed. She then begins to cry out in pain again and begins to cough. Her coughs are forceful and look incredibly painful. Then it all stops for several moments.  
She attempts to stand once more as they try and help her, but she jerks forward, bending at the waist, and coughing up blood which splatters across the room, but mostly across Laura who was standing right in front of her.  
“Yuuuuuck!” Laura shouts and Carmilla rushes to Laura’s side, she grabs a towel from the floor and begins to wipe Laura off.  
“Gross, Carm, get it off me, get it off me.” Laura says as Carm wipes her down.  
“I’m trying, I am.” Carmilla replies.  
Suddenly Gerdy collapses onto Laura’s bed, her body spasming.   
“Come on, help me with her.” Danny says as she bends down to lift her up. LaFontaine, Perry, and Phil bend down to help. Gwen looks on helplessly, unable to do much more than watch.  
“Oh my god, what’s happening there!” LaFontaine shouts, pointing at Gerdy’s abdomen which seems to be moving and pulsing as if something is squirming around underneath it.  
“Is there something in there?” Perry asks, “It can’t be the baby, she’s not far enough along.”  
The flesh beneath her abdomen continues to squirm and wriggle and then starts moving up towards the chest. Gerdy lets out an earsplitting shriek and there is the sound of tearing flesh. She begins to thrash and clutch at her chest, scraping her fingernails along her skin, as if trying to tear it open.  
“Oh my god, what’s going on? What the hell is happening?” Danny asks.  
And then Gerdy’s back arches up, she lets out one more earsplitting howl of pain, and suddenly her whole torso, from clavicle to groin bursts open. Blood and gore splatters everywhere, coating nearly everything and everyone in the room. And out of her chest pops an oozing, slimy, blob like creature that’s about a six inches long. As it explodes out of her it begins to solidify, become less amorphous, and form into a skittering, many legged creature, sharp clawed, beetle like creature.   
“What the fucking shit!?” Phil shouts, “What is that?”  
“Holy shit!” LaFontaine shouts.  
“Jesus Christ!” Danny shouts.  
Everyone else is just struck silent. The creature leaps out and onto the floor and begins to make its way towards the window.   
“Wait, stop it! We can’t let it escape!” LaFontaine shouts, lunging for it.  
“Don’t touch it, sweetie!” Perry shouts and LaFontaine pulls back, realizing they probably shouldn’t touch it.  
Danny attempts to skewer it with the iron poker, but it dodges her strikes, while Phil tries to step on it.   
“We want it alive preferably!” LaFontaine says, trying to figure out what to capture it with.  
Gwen then grabs the nearest garbage can and throws it on top of it. She then tries to dive on top of the garbage can, but only really manages to fall on it. It works well enough though, with her weight on top of the garbage can, the creature can’t get out.  
“I think I got it.” Gwen says with a sigh and then it begins to bang against the garbage can, trying to get free, “For now.”  
They all stand around, staring at one another in silence again.  
“From inside out, not outside in. Should have known that. So that’s what was weird about the body.” Carmilla says with a shrug and they all just look at her incredulous, “What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there you have it, what's been ripping out hearts. Surprise.


	23. We're women

2/25/15  
“What…the…fuck…” LaFontaine says. They all are still somewhat in shock about what just happened.   
“I need….I need to call my boss.” Phil says, reaching for his phone in his pocket and heading towards the door, “I’ll…I’ll be back in a minute.” He steps out in the hallway and they can hear the sound of his muffled voice talking to someone a moment later.  
“It…it just…it just came out of her chest…all alien style.” Laura says, “Holy Ellen Ripley, it just came out of her chest!”  
“There is so much blood and other matter everywhere, this room needs to be cleaned, immediately.” Perry says, rushing towards some cleaning supplies she’s spotted in the corner.  
“This room probably needs to be burned.” Danny says, “You’ll never get the smell of this out of the carpet.”   
Perry looks distraught as she puts her gloves on, “I can clean it, I can.”  
“Perr, you probably shouldn’t anyway. All of this is evidence.” LaFontaine says and gestures to most of the room.  
“But…but…” Perry begins and LaFontaine walks over to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.  
“It’ll be alright.” LaFontaine says and Perry just lays her head on their shoulder, shaking somewhat as LaFontaine holds her close.  
“Well, I can safely say I did not see that coming.” Carmilla says and begins to unconsciously lick the blood off her fingers.  
Laura spots her doing it and slaps at her shoulder. Carmilla looks down at what she’s doing and then drops her hand, hiding it behind her back. No one else seems to notice.  
“So…we were way off.” Laura says.  
“Guys, this thing is still under here.” Gwen says, struggling to stay on top of it, “A little help here.”   
Danny walks over and sits down on the upside down garbage can. Gwen then gets to her feet and sits down next to her. They can feel the creature moving about underneath them, but it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.   
“Yeah, they weren’t murdered, or well not in the traditional sense, they were used as incubators for these creatures.” LaFontaine says.  
“This answers several questions…but brings up so many more.” Laura says, “Like what that thing is.” She points to the garbage can, “And why these girls? And how were they infected?”  
“All very valid questions and ones we won’t have answers to until I study that thing.” LaFontaine says.  
“Uh, not to burst your bubble, but what makes you think you’ll be studying that creature at all?” Carmilla asks, “Those military goons are going to tromp in here and snatch that thing up faster than your suspenders can snap.”  
“Surely they’ll work with us now. Wouldn’t it be smarter to work together?” Perry asks.  
“Smarter, yes, but when has the military ever done anything that was smart?” Laura asks, “Carmilla has a point. If we hand over everything to Phil and his organization, that’s it, we’re done. We’re never going to see any of it again. The question is, are we willing to give up and pass it over to him and his group?”  
“The question is do we trust them?” Gwen asks.  
“His touching speech about helping out the student body was nice and everything, but I don’t trust secret government organizations on principle, especially ones that know so much about me.” Carmilla says.  
“And why was he seen going into those girls’ rooms before they were murdered?” Gwen asks, “That seems strange to me.”  
“And his arm did burn, it may not now, but it did before. That’s suspicious.” Danny says.  
“I don’t think his group is evil or anything, I just don’t think they’re as good as he says they are.” LaFontaine says.  
“So, what are we saying here? We’re going to continue our own investigations?” Laura asks.  
They all nod. “Okay, so that means the first thing we need to do is figure out what to do with the creature.” LaFontaine says, “I know I’d like to study it, so somehow we have to get it back to my and Perr’s room.”  
“I have a cauldron for my chem class.” Laura says, “We could put it in that, but a lid on it, and somehow get it out of here.” Laura reaches under her bed and brings out a large, metal cauldron. She takes out the lid as well. She then grabs some duct tape from off the desk.  
“I can teleport out of here, to your room, and back here.” Carmilla says.  
“Okay, so somehow we need to transfer this thing from under here, to in that.” Danny says pointing from the garbage can to the cauldron.  
“Yes.” Laura says.  
“Alright, here we go.” Danny says shaking her head, “Get ready.”  
Carmilla lifts up the cauldron, preparing to drop it on the creature as soon as they lift up the garbage can.  
Danny and Gwen get off the garbage can, their hands still rest on it though as they hold it down. They then look at each other and then look to Carmilla.  
“Ready?” Gwen asks.  
Carmilla nods.  
Gwen and Danny lift up one end of the garbage can towards Carmilla. At first nothing comes out and they wait in anticipation. Then, suddenly the thing darts out at full speed, a small grey blur that attempts to get by Carmilla. She dives for it though, slamming the cauldron down on it with her superior speed. The creature begins to slam itself against the inside of the cauldron, making loud clanging noises.  
“Quick, get the lid.” Carmilla says.  
Laura brings over the lid and Carmilla slides it under. Once the lid is on, she flips the cauldron right side up, holding the lid down with one hand.  
“The tape.” She says and Laura grabs the tape and begins to cover the cauldron in layer after layer of duct tape until she felt it was perfectly secure.   
“Alright, here we go, moment of truth.” Carmilla says removing her hand from the lid. The creature began battering itself against the lid and while the cauldron shook from the force, the lid didn’t budge.  
Laura sighs out, “Good, okay, get out of here. Get to LaF and Perry’s room, quick.”  
Carmilla disappears in a puff of black smoke with the cauldron in hand.   
“We need to make it seem like it escaped.” Gwen says and begins tearing a hole in the side of the garbage can with her good hand.  
“Hey! What are you doing?” Laura says, “That’s our garbage can.”  
Gwen pauses, realizes she’s ruining their garbage can and looks sorry, “Sorry. I’ll…uh…buy you a new one.”  
Laura nods, “Alright, well, it escapes from the garbage can by what? Biting or clawing its way out.”  
“Yeah.” Gwen says, tearing more pieces from the side of the garbage can, “Then it goes for the window.”  
“But the window is boarded up.” Perry says.  
Gwen looks over and frowns, “Right.” She stands up and walks over to the window. She looks at it for a few seconds and then throws her arm forward, punching a hole in the wood with a loud crunch.  
“What are you doing?” Danny asks, “You’re going to break your other hand!”  
Gwen shakes her head, “Werewolf resilience. I’ll be fine.” She then proceeds to tear the wood away around the hole to make it seem like a creature clawed or chewed its way through it. Once she’s done she turns back to the group, “Now we just need some theatrics.”  
“Oh my god!” Perry shouts, “It’s loose! Get it! Get it!”  
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” LaFontaine shouts and they kick the side of the bed making a loud thump.  
“Grab it!” Danny shouts, banging up against the wardrobe.  
“I’m trying!” Laura shouts back.  
“It’s headed for the window! Don’t let it get out the window!” LaFontaine shouts and they all pretend to rush for the window.  
“Fuck!” Danny shouts.  
Suddenly the door bursts open and Phil comes charging in, phone still in his hand.  
“What the hell is going on in here? I heard shouting and banging?” He asks looking at all of them gathered around the window.  
They all look at each other and then at the broken garbage can and then towards the window. Phil follows their eyes and sees the garbage can.  
“Oh shit, don’t tell me it got out.” Phil says and then slams the door closed as she looks around the room for it, “Where is it? Where did it go?  
“Um…” Laura begins  
Phil freezes as he senses her hesitation and then looks up at them all with squinted eyes, as if suspicious, “Don’t tell me it escaped?”  
“Um…” Laura says again and they all move away from the window to show him the large hole there.  
Phil runs over to the window and looks out into the dark, he doesn’t see anything.  
“Fuck!” He shouts and then looks at all of them, “How could this happen? How could you let this happen?”   
“We didn’t let anything happen, buddy.” Danny says, “It got out. And where were you in all of this?”  
“Leaving an unknown and violent creature alone in a room full of inexperienced civilians, that can’t be good, can it?” Perry asks and Phil tenses up, realizing his mistake.  
“Oh crap. Boss is going to kill me.” Phil says, reaching up to run his hand through his hair, he then looks up at all of them and realizes something, “Where’s Carmilla?”  
They all look at each other, unsure of what to say when they hear the toilet in the bathroom flush and Carmilla walks out into the room stretching. She looks at all of them huddled in the corner of the room, staring at her.   
“What?” Carmilla asks and then pretends to look around at the mess of a room, “What happened here?”  
“The creature escaped.” Phil says and Carmilla pretends to look shocked, but Phil suddenly feels suspicious about something else now, “While you were in the bathroom, this entire time.”  
“Well poor timing my bladder does have.” Carmilla says, “So, where is the bugger, in the room or…”  
“It escaped, out the window.” Phil says, “Conveniently.”  
“Conveniently? I don’t think it escaping out a window is particularly convenient, do you?” Carmilla asks.  
“So what do we do now?” LaFontaine asks, “Examine the body right?”   
Phil looks at them and frowns, “You guys don’t do anything. You’re not involved in any of this. I appreciate all you’ve done thus far, but this is the end of the road.”  
“What? But we’ve come so far, we can’t just stop now!” Laura says.  
“And don’t you think you could use our help?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Look, you girls have done a lot and I’m sure by the time you graduate my organization will be more than willing to offer you positions. But you’re not agents, you’re not warriors or detectives, you’re just…” Phil says.  
“Just what?” Danny asks standing up to her full height which is at least four inches taller than Phil. He looks up at her and frowns.  
“Just girls.” Phil says.  
“We’re not just girls.” Laura says, “We’re girls. We’re girls who spent all last semester solving the case of my missing roommate all on our own. We’re the girls who have braved the library after dark not once, not twice, but three times. We’re the girls who rallied the school and fought a bunch of vampires in the lower levels of the Lustig. We’re the girls who killed an elder god, especially this girl right here.” She wraps her arm around Carmilla’s waist, “Who risked life and limb to retrieve the sword of Hastur from the depths of the ocean and then used it against said elder god knowing full well it might consume her. We’re the girls who have fought dryads, naiads, animated skeletons, demons, and we even have two dragon slayers on our hands.” She points to Gwen and Danny, “We’re a vampire, a werewolf, an amazon warrior, a brilliant scientist, and a guiding hand, a caretaker who makes sure that when we fall down we get back up again.”  
“And we’re a leader.” Carmilla says putting her hand on Laura’s shoulder, “We’re a nineteen year old girl who grew up sheltered and protected and who got handed a raw deal the first few days she was exposed to the real world. Whose roommate went missing and instead of just sticking her head in the sand and hoping someone else would deal with the problem she dove head first into a potentially life threatening situation because it was the right thing to do. We are girl who stood up to her vampire roommate, said vampire roommate’s evil vampire brother, and to the very Dean your organization was too afraid to. We are a girl who got a three hundred year old vampire who had long since grown cynical of everyone and everything around her, to be willing to give up her own life for the greater good and for her. We are a girl who brought together the vampire, the werewolf, the caretaker, the amazon, and the scientist into this formidable team you see before you. We are a girl who believes everyone deserves better and will fight for that right tooth and nail.” Laura looks up at Carmilla in awe as she finishes  
“So to correct your statement, we’re not just girls.” Danny says.  
“We’re women.” Perry finishes.

End of video


	24. Experimenting

2/26/15  
Laura is sitting on someone’s bed, not her own, with her laptop camera facing her.  
“Hello everyone, I am shooting this video from LaF and Perry’s room today.” She says, “Even after our rousing speech, Phil still wasn’t convinced that we should be involved in the investigation. Butt face.” Laura frowns, “Which sucks, but is not unexpected, we knew this could happen. But anyway, they basically kicked us out of our room for the next few days as they do their own investigation. Not that I’d really be able to sleep in there for a while anyway. The smell was starting to get to me.” She shakes her head as if trying to dislodge the memories that just suddenly appeared, “So we’re staying in LaF and Perry’s room for a while.”  
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Carmilla says from somewhere in the room off camera.  
“Hold it still!” LaFontaine shouts.  
“I’m trying!” Carmilla shouts back.  
Laura just grins as she shakes her head, “LaFontaine has been trying to run experiments on the creature with Carmilla’s help and as you can see…” Laura turns the camera around to face the rest of the room. The room itself is larger than Laura and Carmilla’s room. The two beds are pushed together against one wall, which is where Laura is sitting, with the wardrobe and dressers near there. The kitchen area is slightly larger and they have a full fridge. They also have a small living room area, with a couch, a few chairs, and a table with a TV on it. By the kitchen is a larger table which could be considered a small dining room, but instead LaFontaine has turned it into their lab, with all manner of science equipment strewn across it, under it, and around it.  
That is where Laura points the camera and where LaFontaine and Carmilla are currently.  
“…it’s not going well.” Laura finishes as the creature manages to break free of Carmilla’s grasp and lunges for LaFontaine.  
“Holy fuckballs!” LaFontaine shouts as they dive backward away from the striking creature. Carmilla manages to wrap her gloved hands around the creature again before it can make another strike at LaFontaine.  
Once LaFontaine gains their composure they turn to Carmilla, “You’re supposed to hold it! Not let it lunge at my face!”  
“I know that!” Carmilla snaps, “It’s slippery. Perhaps you’d like to try and hold it down while I stab your hand with needles.”  
“I already apologized for that!” LaFontaine counters, “And it wasn’t my fault it squirmed away and your hand happened to be there.”  
“You’re just lucky I can heal quickly, because your….” Carmilla looks at one of the bottles on the counter, “25% concentration hydrochloric acid! What? Where did you even get this?”  
“I…er…found it?” LaFontaine replies.  
Carmilla shakes her head, “I don’t want to know. Just continue with your experiments. And try not to stick me with anymore needles.”  
“Just hold it still.” LaFontaine says.  
Laura turns the camera back to her, “They’ve been at it for most of the day. The problem is, it doesn’t seem like it can be sedated. LaFontaine tried all manner of drugs and other chemicals to try and knock it out, but none of them worked. It’s actually been resistant to everything she’s tried so far, with the more potent chemicals barely leaving marks.”  
“It’s not actually resistant.” LaFontaine says to Laura from behind the camera, “At least not in its solid form.”  
Laura nods, “It seems to have two forms. The bug like form that has claws and teeth, and the blob like form which we don’t know what that’s for.”  
“It makes it very difficult to hold it though.” Carmilla grunts out as she struggles with it.  
“Yeah and its blob like form is what makes it resistant.” LaFontaine says, “Every time I inject it with something or pour something on it in its solid form it shifts to its blob form. It’s like its blob form is completely unreactive or has a way to neutralize all the chemicals. I don’t know.”  
“We’re having JP try and figure out what type of creature it is from his database. Hopefully we don’t have to make another trek to the library to figure it out.” Laura says, “We do know that it’s young.”  
“A baby really.” LaFontaine says.  
“So it most likely…hatched out of Gerdy.” Laura says, “Meaning it was planted there.”  
“Meaning someone or something planted it there.” LaFontaine says.  
“So we have to figure out how that works and who or what is doing it so we can stop them.” Laura says.  
“And the first step is to try and figure out what this thing is vulnerable to.” LaFontaine says, “Or how to get it to stay in its solid form.”  
“Which is proving more difficult than we thought.” Laura says, “We need some sort of freeze ray or something.”  
“Yeah, I haven’t built one of those yet, but…wait that gives me an idea.” LaFontaine says and Laura turns the camera back around to face them. They run towards the fridge and pull a metal container out of the freezer. They place it down on the counter and put some heavy protective gloves on and grab some tongs off the table.  
“What is that?” Laura asks.  
“Liquid nitrogen.” LaFontaine says, “Here, give it here.” They clang the tongs together at Carmilla who scowls.  
“Where did you get that?” Laura asks.  
“I…er…found it.” LaFontaine says and both Carmilla and Laura roll their eyes this time.  
Carmilla hands the creature over, placing the creature in the tongs. LaFontaine then quickly removes the lid of the container, as nitrogen gas flows out it. They then thrust the creature into the liquid nitrogen for a good ten seconds before pulling it out. The creature is completely frozen and unmoving.  
“Great, you killed it.” Carmilla says sarcastically.  
“Yeah, but at least we know how to kill it now.” LaFontaine says and then frowns as the creature begins to move, “Or not.” The creature looks as if it’s melting, but instead is forming into its blob form. It begins to ooze down the tongs, the liquid nitrogen flowing off it.  
“Damn it!” LaFontaine shouts as Carmilla gathers up the ooze.  
“Well that didn’t work.” Carmilla says.  
“I know that.” LaFontaine snaps.  
“No need to get snippy, braniac.” Carmilla says and then hisses as the creature forms into its solid shape again and begins to squirm in her hands.  
LaFontaine sighs, slumping against the wall, “I don’t know what else to try.”  
“Maybe you guys should take a break; you’ve been at it all day.” Laura says.  
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” LaFontaine says, putting away the container of liquid nitrogen, “My brain is fried.”  
“So are we done? What should I do with this thing?” Carmilla asks and curses as the thing almost escapes her grasp again, “Son of a bitch!”  
“Put that thing back into the cauldron!” LaFontaine shouts.  
Carmilla moves to put the creature away, but it keeps slipping from her grasp. Until finally it manages to get loose, dripping from her hands, and then solidifying to leap towards the table.  
“Fuck!” Carmilla shouts as she dives for it. She lands on top of the table and scrambles about trying to grab it.  
“Watch the chemicals! Watch the equipment!” LaFontaine yells, rushing over to help her as Carmilla knocks over an empty beaker which shatters on the floor.  
Laura almost feels like laughing as she watches the two struggle to grab the creature which has thus far managed to evade the two of them successfully. Carmilla lunges for the creature again, but misses and knocks over several more pieces of lab equipment. LaFontaine manages to catch the more expensive pieces in a truly impressive feat of quick reflexes.  
Laura does laugh this time as this is the most ungraceful she has ever seen Carmilla, who normally moves with a beautiful fluidity. Currently, she looks more like a floundering fish as she lies across the table, trying to snatch the creature with her hands. She hears Laura laugh and turns towards her with a glare.  
“Are you laughing?” Carmilla asks as she tries to use her arms to fence in the creature, so she can get off the table.  
Laura covers her mouth, but a giggle escapes, “I’m sorry, but you two look so funny trying to catch the thing.”  
“Well, maybe you’d like to come over here and try to help, sweetheart.” Carmilla snaps.  
Laura shakes her head, “Nuh uh, no way. Keep that thing as far away from me as possible. It’s creepy.”  
“Creepy you say?” Carmilla asks and then gets a smirk on her face. She pretends to grab at the creature, but instead grabs a beaker full of water. She then turns to Laura and shouts, “Here Laura, catch!” She throws the water and Laura full on shrieks as the water splashes her.  
It takes Laura several seconds of screaming and squirming around to figure out that the creature is not in fact on her. Once she realizes it and hears Carmilla laughing, she scowls and says, “Carmilla! That wasn’t very funny!”  
Carmilla laughs some more and shakes her head, “I’m sorry, Cupcake. I couldn’t resist. Your face was priceless.”  
Laura crosses her arms and pouts, “Jerk face vampire.”  
Carmilla laughs some more and then gets an elbow to the ribs from LaFontaine who is still trying to nab the creature.  
“Ow, watch it.” Carmilla says.  
“If you could stop goofing around and help me here.” LaFontaine says they grab a pot and try and catch the creature under it. The creature just jumps aside and then leaps to the top of the stove where dinner is cooking. The creature hisses and leaps away from the fire.  
“Ah! Get it away from the food!” Laura shouts.  
Carmilla runs into the kitchen with LaFontaine on her heels. She’s about to grab the creature when it lunges at her and she dodges out of the way. The creature then bounces off the fridge and back onto the countertop in one quick movement. Carmilla on the other hand slams into LaFontaine who then bumps into the fridge which knocks several vials and beakers that were stored on top of it down. The vials and beakers rain down on the two of them, onto the floor, the countertop, and the stove, glass shattering everywhere.  
“Crap!” LaFontaine shouts and then their eyes widen as they watch one particular vial containing a green substance go tumbling towards the stove and then roll into the open flame, “GET DOWN!” They yell and grab onto Carmilla’s shirt dragging her down the floor just as the vial bursts from the heat and the green foam inside explodes outward. As the foam explodes and expands it ignites, sending jets of white hot flame shooting out at least a foot in every direction. LaFontaine and Carmilla cower on the floor of the kitchen as flames swirl out from the stovetop above them. The fire alarm in the room goes off a moment later.  
“Get the fire extinguisher!” LaFontaine shouts to a panicking Laura in the bedroom, “There’s one under the bed!”  
Laura scrambles under the bed to grab the fire extinguisher as the flames continue to roar inside the kitchen.  
Suddenly there is a high pitched keening noise and LaFontaine looks up to see the creature near the edge of the fire burst shifting in and out of its glob like form as if its struggling to keep hold of its shape. The fire bursts out even more and the creature leaps back in alarm, trapped against the wall.  
“Hurry!” Carmilla shouts.  
Laura grabs the fire extinguisher, but before she can get up the door bursts open and Perry comes rushing in holding her own fire extinguisher. She sees the chaos going on in the kitchen and begins to spray the fire with foam. After several long minutes of that, the fire is out. Everyone is breathing hard and getting their bearings.  
Perry then turns to LaFontaine who has jumped to their feet and rushed over to the counter where the creature is lying.  
“What in God’s name just happened?!” Perry shouts at LaFontaine, “I leave for half an hour to get groceries and I return to hear the fire alarm going off in our room!”  
Carmilla slowly gets to her feet, stretching out the kinks that have formed. Laura rushes into the kitchen at that moment.  
“Is everyone okay?” She asks, looking Carmilla up and down.  
“It’s vulnerable to heat.” LaFontaine says, studying the creature which appears to be lying stunned on the counter, barely moving.  
“Are you even listening to me LaFontaine?!” Perry asks and then looks around the kitchen finally realizing the damage the fire caused. The wall behind the stove, the vent above the stove, and a good part of the stove itself are burnt and melted. There is nothing left of the pot that once stood there cooking dinner, except a melted pile of metal. Bits and pieces of wall, ceiling, and other appliances are burnt or singed, and the whole apartment is filled with smoke.  
“If we keep it on the stove, in a pot with the heat running, maybe it’ll stay stunned like this. I hope that it’s vulnerable to even a little bit of heat, cause white hot flames will be difficult to maintain.” LaFontaine mutters to themselves as they begin to prod the creature with a partially melted spatula.  
“I’m alright.” Carmilla says as Laura comes over and hugs her, “See, nothing burnt.”  
“Yeah, I’m glad you’re not hurt.” Laura says.  
“What, smoldering hot vampire doesn’t sound appealing to you?” Carmilla asks, quirking an eyebrow.  
Laura laughs, “How about crispified vampire? That sounds more accurate.”  
“LaFontaine!” Perry says and LaFontaine continues to mutter to themselves, “LAFONTAINE!” She finally bellows and LaFontaine whips around, suddenly realizing Perry was talking to them.  
“What? What’s the matter?” They ask.  
“Are you alright?” Perry asks.  
LaFontaine looks themselves over, “Yeah, I’m fine. No burns or anything.”  
Perry nods sighing with relief, “Ok, good.” Her eyes then turn hard and she glares at LaFontaine, “What were you thinking!? You nearly burned down this entire building! Again! You destroyed a perfectly good stove and several other appliances! The wall is going to need to be repaired! There’s probably smoke damage! Not to mention all the cleaning that’s going to need to be done! And worst…worst of all…you nearly killed yourself!” Tears start to well up in Perry’s eyes.  
“Oh Perr.” LaFontaine says, taking a step towards her, “I’m sorry. But look, I’m okay.”  
Perry takes a step back from them, holding her hands up, “No, no. You could have died! Or at least gotten severely injured! I mean look what that stuff did to the stove! What were you thinking keeping that stuff and storing it in here? I thought you got rid of it all?”  
LaFontaine looks shamefaced, “Um well, I got rid of most of it. I kept a little to do future testing on. But it wasn’t supposed to react so violently. I mean, it reacted violently before, but not that violently. It must have gotten more concentrated over time, which is an interesting phenomenon and something I’ll…”  
“LaFontaine, I don’t care about the science behind it right now.” Perry interrupts, “I just…I need you to be more careful, okay? I can’t…I can’t lose you…I don’t know what’d I’d do if I…” Tears form in her eyes again and LaFontaine rushes forward, wrapping her in a hug. Perry sobs onto their shoulder.  
“Oh Perr, I’m so sorry. I really am. I’ll be more careful. I promise.” LaFontaine says soothingly.  
Carmilla and Laura stand there awkwardly, unsure of what to do.  
“I just don’t want to lose you.” Perry says.  
“I know.” LaFontaine replies.  
“Should we um…leave?” Laura whispers in Carmilla’s ear and Carmilla shrugs.  
Before they can leave they hear a shrill chittering noise and they all turn to see the creature begin to move again. It’s still on its side, but its begun to twitch.  
“So, you got a plan?” Carmilla asks and LaFontaine smiles.  
They crack their knuckles, “Let’s get to experimenting.”

End of video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anything above 25% concentration of a hydrochloric acid is corrosive. Under that, it's still an irritant and can hurt and leave damage. So always handle with care, kiddos!


	25. Zany

3/1/15  
The camera turns on and Laura is sitting in front of it. She’s sitting at a desk now, but it appears she’s still in LaFontaine and Perry’s room. Carmilla is on the couch with a book over her face, sleeping. LaFontaine is hovering over their lab table, a Bunsen burner on, with a rather large pot perched over it. They are animatedly working on something in the pot, which one can assume is probably the creature. Perry is unboxing the new stove in the kitchen.  
“So, we’ve made some progress with the creature. Once LaFontaine figured out the creature was vulnerable to heat, they’ve been keeping the creature warmed up anytime they’ve been working on it.”  
“The creature can’t maintain its amorphous form when under more than 100° C of heat.” LaFontaine says over their shoulder as they work, “It’s rather fascinating really. When under that much heat its forced to be in its weaker solid form. A solid form which reacts to chemicals and sedatives and basically anything else like it should.”  
Laura nods, “And with Laf’s help studying the creature, JP was able to figure out what it is. It has many different names, Globling, the Demon’s Offspring, Devil’s Seed, Heart-eater Beetle, Piercer Beetle, the list goes on and on.”  
“It’s in the Triatominae subfamily, which by the way contains the nasty suckers that pass along chagas disease. The scientific name is Triatoma Fractaphrenia. Which has two meanings, either mind breaker or diaphragm breaker. Diaphragm breaker makes more sense.” LaFontaine says, “Since it basically breaks out through the chest and diaphragm.”  
“We’re still going through the information, but the piercer beetle is a parasitic creature that plants its eggs in a host. The offspring then use the host basically as an incubator and food source, growing inside them for several weeks, and tricking the body into thinking it’s pregnant, until the creature is fully grown.” Laura says.  
“Once it’s reached that stage it moves out of the uterus and towards the heart where it eats the heart for an extra boost of nutrients, and then bursts out of the host.” LaFontaine says, “And you want to hear something gross…well I mean that’s all pretty gross, so I guess more gross things. The creature gets its eggs into the host by typically planting it into their food.”  
“So they…ate…the eggs?” Laura asks and then shudders, “That is so wrong.”  
“The interesting bit is that these creatures have a sort of hive structure, meaning there is a queen who lays all the eggs and then drones which serve her and carry out her instructions or whatever. Like ants or bees. Little Xander here is one of those drones.”  
Perry looks up from where she’s working and frowns, “Oh LaFontaine, you didn’t.”  
“Didn’t what?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Xander?” Laura asks.  
“Oh, you mean name it…yeah…” LaFontaine says.  
“You can’t name it!” Perry says, “You’ll get attached! It’s a monster that’s being killing girls.”   
“You can’t name it Xander!” Laura shouts.  
“Fine, how about Zane? Zany?” LaFotnaine suggests.  
“Why do all the names start with a Z sound?” Laura asks.  
“Cause then its alliterative.” LaFontaine replies.  
“What is alliterative?” Laura asks.  
“Zany the Xenomorph.” LaFontaine says with a big grin on their face.  
“Oh, makes sense, although isn’t it not a xenomorph?” Laura asks.  
“I mean, yeah cause those are fictional, but its similar enough.” LaFontaine says.  
“Okay, well I’m partial to Zach or Zachary.” Laura says.  
“We’re not naming it!” Perry yells at them.  
“Oh come on Perr, it’s all in good fun.” LaFontaine says, “There’s no way I’m getting attached to this demon bug spawn thing.”  
Perry just shakes her head, “Fine. But when you have to kill it and you can’t, don’t come crying to me.” She returns to working on setting up the stove, looking over the instructions.  
LaFontaine turns back to their work, but also continues to talk about the creature, “So yeah, there’s a queen and drones. This one is a drone. They all communicate using some kind of psychic link. If I can somehow tap into that link, I think I can use it to track it back to the Queen.”  
“That’s what they’re working on now.” Laura says, “And how is that going?”  
LaFontaine shrugs, “Fine. I should have it done in a few days.”  
Perry makes a huffing noise and sighs, “LaFontaine, I need your help putting this thing together.” “You’re perfectly capable of putting together a stove Perr.” LaFontaine replies.  
“These instructions make no sense.” She says.  
LaFontaine gets up and walks over, they take the instructions from Perry and begin to look them over, “Well, that’s because they’re in Japanese. Where are the English instructions?” They begin to look through the booklet and then around the box for them.  
“These are the only instructions it came with.” Perry says.  
“What? That’s ridiculous.” LaFontaine searches around some more, “Damn, you’re right. I can’t read Japanese.”  
There’s a groan from the coach and then Carmilla says, “I can.” She then gets up from the coach and sighs, “Give it here.”  
“You’re awake?” Laura asks.  
“Yeah, cause people were shouting before.” Carmilla replies and then sees the creature in the pot without a lid on it, “Were you just going to leave this thing here, with the lid off like this?”  
“Don’t worry, it’s sedated.” LaFontaine replies.  
“I don’t care if you gave it elephant tranquilizers, I don’t trust it not to lunge at my face whatever state it’s in.” Carmilla replies and places the lid on top of the bot and locks it in place. She then walks over to them in the kitchen and looks at the instructions, “Okay, find part A and the C sized screws.”  
Laura turns back to camera, “So that’s where we’re at folks. Evil parasitic beetles that plant their eggs in people’s food and then eat their hearts. Just another day at Silas U.”

End of video


	26. End of the road

3/4/15  
Laura, Carmilla, LaFontaine, Perry, Danny, and Gwen all sit inside LaFontaine and Perry’s room. Gwen looks much better, her leg is out of a cast and her fingers are only wrapped now instead of in splints. Many of the cuts, bruises, and other marks are gone, with only a few bandages here and there. She has her guitar again and she’s nervously fiddling with it, humming to herself. Danny is watching her with a look of admiration and Carmilla looks at her annoyed.  
She’s singing softly to herself and Laura hears a few lines.

A demon burst out of girl the other day  
I’m not sure there is much else to say  
This school is fucking weird  
Much worse than I feared  
I should have just gone to community college

Laura shakes her head and turns to the camera to speak, “So, the school still won’t let us back into our room, well they’ll let us in to get things, but they won’t let us stay. They’re still investigating, looking for clues I guess.”  
“And they’re still looking for the creature. They’re hunting in the South Woods now, cause someone said they thought they saw it there.” LaFontaine says with a smirk, “They have no idea where it is.”  
“I think Phil is suspicious though.” Gwen says, “You said he stopped by here yesterday?”  
“Yes, fortunately it was just me here.” Perry says, “LaFontaine was away at class and not working on the thing.”  
“Yeah, Zany was away and sedated, which was good.” LaFontaine says and everyone can see Perry roll her eyes at the name.  
“But he did walk around this place like he was looking for something.” Perry says, “I agree that he’s suspicious. He suspects we’re still investigating.”  
“Who cares?” Carmilla asks, “It’s not going to stop us, he isn’t going to stop us.”  
“Carmilla has a point. Even if he does find out, what is he really going to do?” Laura asks.  
“They could expel us. He could bring up the fact that we kidnapped him and tied him up for several days.” LaFontaine says.  
“Right, that.” Laura says, “So we just have to be careful around him. Unless, you think we should let him in on what we know? It would be nice to be backed by a powerful government organization in our fight against this thing.”  
“I still don’t trust him.” Carmilla says, “Or his organization. I say we leave them out of it.”  
“I agree.” Gwen says and Carmilla scowls at her.  
“Stop agreeing with me.” Carmilla says.  
“No.” Gwen says and Carmilla gives her the finger, “Don’t make me write another song about you.” Gwen threatens.  
“You wouldn’t dare. That wasn’t an idle threat before. I’ll make you eat that guitar.” Carmilla counters.  
“I’d like to see you try, bloodsucker.” Gwen says, “Even with an injured body, I can still take you.”  
Carmilla laughs menacingly, “That’s what you think. Let’s find out, Furface.”  
Gwen stands up, but Perry puts a hand on her shoulder and indicates for her to sit back down.  
“Let’s not behave like children.” Perry says, “We have more pressing matters.”  
“Is this is what it’s like watching Carmilla and I argue?” Danny whispers to LaFontaine who nods. Danny just sighs, starting to feel embarrassed about all their previous arguments.  
“Fine, you’re right.” Gwen says, sitting down and then she turns to Carmilla, “But someday, we’re going to get that rematch.”  
“I can’t wait.” Carmilla says sounding bored and then adds a yawn to show how little she cares.  
“Anyway…” Laura says, “We have some added news to the creature story.”  
“Oh yes!” LaFontaine says, “JP and I were continuing to do research when we found something particularly interesting. The creature is a parasite in more ways than one. We already knew that in its egg and larval stage it grows inside a host and then bursts out once it’s fully grown. Now, fully grown it can survive outside a host, but it prefers to find a new host and take control of them. Especially the Queen likes to do this.”  
“You heard them right, it takes control of a host.” Laura says, “Which means someone or something on campus is walking around being controlled by this monster.”  
“To take control, it turns into its glob like form and crawls into…well any orifice really and makes its way to the brainstem where it latches on.” LaFontaine says, “Then it takes control of the host completely. These creatures are rather intelligent, they’re not just bugs or anything, they’re completely sentient.”  
“So the Queen finds a host, takes control of it, and then lays her eggs in food or whatever. The eggs are then fertilized by the males or drones of the species. Once the food is eaten the eggs make their way to the uterus where they latch on like a normal egg would and then like we said before, trick the body into thinking it’s pregnant. But the gestation period of the Piercer Beetle is much shorter than say, a human’s gestation, it’s only like a few weeks.” Laura continues.  
“And how long the gestation is depends on the creature, some let it grow faster or slower. Either way, the creature grows quickly inside the uterus and then well…we went over this before…we saw it firsthand.” LaFontaine says, “And that’s the life cycle of this bugger.”  
“But you said you’re working on a way to track it, the Queen?” Danny asks.  
“Yes, I’m almost finished with it. I should be done by Thursdayish.” LaFontaine says.  
“So by the end of the week we should be able to find the Queen?” Gwen asks.  
“Yes. I think so.” LaFontaine replies.  
“So do we have a plan then?” Danny asks.  
“We need to find out who is infected first. We know this creature is vulnerable to heat, but we don’t know if that’s true inside a host.” Laura says, “Once we figure out who it is, we’ll need to figure out a way to get it out of them.”  
“If we can get it out of them.” Carmilla says and they all look at her, she shrugs, “What? Sometimes these problems can’t be fixed, sometimes people can’t be saved. I’m not saying we don’t try, just keep it in mind.”  
“Well, we’re definitely going to try.” Laura says.  
“Carmilla’s got a point though.” LaFontaine says, “If heat is the only thing the creature is vulnerable too in its blob form, I’m not sure how we get its environment to 100° C without killing the person.”  
“We’ll figure something out.” Laura says, “We have to right? I mean, we can’t just kill a person.”  
“We could always turn them over to Phil’s organization.” Perry suggests.  
“Assuming they won’t just kill them.” Gwen says.  
“So are we really doing this all on our own again?” Perry asks.  
“Looks like it.” Laura says and turns to LaFontaine, “Maybe if we threaten whoever it is, the Queen, with heat, like make her think we’re going to roast her and her host, but we don’t actually.”  
“Lock her in a sweatbox or sauna or something?” Danny asks, “Turn up the heat and threaten to kill her unless she leaves the host?”  
LaFontaine frowns, “Maybe, but I don’t think it’ll get nearly hot enough for her to even consider leaving, not without doing severe injury to the person. At just 42° C you start getting heat stroke, brain damage, death. That’s not hot enough to make her uncomfortable.”  
“Yeah, but a dead host is a useless host. If we trick her into thinking we’re willing to kill the host.” Laura says.  
“Hmm, maybe, but that assumes we can convince her we’re serious.” LaFontaine says, “Although…”  
“What? Although what?” Laura asks, “You have an idea don’t you?”  
LaFontaine thinks for a moment and then says, “We may not have to trick her directly. We can maybe trick the body.”  
“What does that mean?” Carmilla asks.  
“Meaning, if we can trick the body into thinking its boiling alive, without actually doing it, we may be able to trick her into leaving.” LaFontaine says.  
“Okay, that sounds good, how do we do that?” Danny asks.  
LaFontaine shrugs, “Not sure yet, there has to be something right?”  
“Capsaicin.” Gwen says and they all look at her stunned.  
“What now?” Laura asks.  
“You know, the chemical found in peppers that make them seem hot.” Gwen says and they all still look at her stunned, she frowns, “Did you all forget I was a Chem major?”  
“That’s brilliant actually.” LaFontaine says, “If we could get a high dose of capsaicin into the central nervous system, we could essentially trick the body into thinking it was burning.”  
“We’d probably have to modify it somehow.” Gwen continues, “Maybe sensitize the TRPV1 with prostaglandins?”  
LaFontaine nods, “Mmm, not bad thinking. We could also modify the capsaicin directly, make it more potent…” The two of them begin to discuss this to themselves as the others lose track of what they’re saying.  
“Well, it looks like that’s taken care of.” Carmilla says with a shrug.  
“So we’ll have a way to track this thing and a way to get it out of the host.” Laura says, “This may actually work you guys.”  
Suddenly the door is kicked in and several large burly gentlemen in suits come rushing in. They raise their weapons, which appear to be tasers, at the group, but don’t fire. Carmilla leaps in front of Laura and hisses, Perry and LaFontaine huddle together, and Danny and Gwen fight over who is standing in front of who until they resolve to stand at the ready next to one another.  
“Stand down, ladies.” A smooth, but cold voice says and then a moment later the Dean steps into the room. He’s dressed in another fine, form fitting suit, and he is still wearing sunglasses inside. He gives an unfriendly smile at all of them.  
Carmilla takes a step forward threateningly, but the Dean begins to wag his finger, “Ah, ah, ah, Miss Karnstein. I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”  
“You can’t take me down with a taser.” Carmilla says in a low, dangerous tone.  
“Very true.” The Dean says, “But this isn’t my first rodeo Miss Karnstein. The tasers may not take you out, but this surely will.” He snaps his fingers and one of the men draws a nasty looking dart gun and points it at Carmilla.  
“Tranquilizers won’t work either.” Carmilla snaps.  
“Yes, but these aren’t any old tranquilizers.” The Dean says, “This is a special cocktail made just for creatures like you. A little holy water, a little garlic extract, some other nasty things that our scientists have found vampires respond rather negatively to. Did you know, Miss Karnstein, that there is a plant that grows in the Páramos of Venezuela that produces a unique substance, a substance so unique that there is nothing else like it on Earth? And only a dropper full of it is enough to kill a vampire such as yourself.”  
Suddenly Laura is leaping in front of Carmilla, pushing her behind her, eyes wide in concern.  
“Oh, don’t worry Miss Hollis, Miss Karnstein, my intent is not to kill you. There is less than a milligram of the substance in these tranquilizer darts here, not nearly enough to kill you. But it surely is enough to paralyze you for at least a day, maybe more. So unless you want that to happen, I suggest you stand down.” The Dean says and then turns to Gwen, “And for you Miss Adams…” He snaps his fingers and another dart gun is drawn, “…are darts filled with a diluted silver extract. Not too much silver because well, we all know what happens if too much gets to that ticker of yours.” He says tapping his chest for emphasis, “It won’t kill you, but it’ll hurt like a bitch.”  
“Okay, you’ve made yourself clear.” Laura says, “We won’t try anything. What do you want from us?”  
The Dean shoots her another smile, which looks more like a sneer, but he doesn’t answer, instead he looks behind him and moves aside as Phil makes his way into the room.  
“We’re here for the creature, all your research, and the device you were making to track the Queen.” Phil says, “Hand it over, now.”  
“What…how did you…I don’t understand?” Laura asks.  
“You see, Phil here is a top agent of ours and he suspected something was amiss as soon as the creature escaped. Then, when we couldn’t find it or any trace of it, he was sure you had someone snuck it away to do your own testing.” The Dean says.  
“I got a tip that weird noises were coming from your room. From there it wasn’t hard to put two and two together.” Phil says. 

“So when he stopped by for a ‘visit’, he planted a bug in your room…well another bug.” The Dean laughs at his own joke, but then his face grows serious again, “And we overheard everything.”  
“Your work is quite ingenious.” Phil says, “Really, we’re very impressed.”  
“That’s weeks’ worth of work, you can’t just take that from us!” LaFontaine shouts.  
“We can and we will.” The Dean says, “Now you can cooperate or we can tear this room apart, it’s up to you.”  
LaFontaine looks about ready to argue more, but Perry puts a hand on their shoulder. LaFontaine looks to her and then sighs, “Alright, the creature is in the cauldron over there. It’s currently sedated, but it’s only vulnerable in its solid form. In its amorphous form it’s only vulnerable to heat and…”  
“Yes, yes, we know. Thank you.” Phil says and signals for some of the men to grab the cauldron.  
“Here’s the tracking device I was working on.” LaFontaine says, picking it up off the table, “I wasn’t finished with it, but the creature communicates…”  
“Via some psychic link or something.” Phil finishes, “Yes, thank you. Our scientists can figure out the rest, I’m sure. All your notes are here as well?” He indicates the many notebooks and binders scattered around the table.  
“Yes, everything is there.” LaFontaine says through gritted teeth.  
“Good, good. And we’d like all of this JP’s research, as well as any of the books you took from the library.” Phil continues.  
“All of that research is on my laptop, I can copy it for you if…” LaFontaine begins, but Phil just indicates to one of the men next to him.  
“Take the laptop.” He says and the guy grabs the laptop off the table.  
“Hey! That’s mine!” LaFontaine shouts.  
“You can’t take that, that’s their property!” Danny shouts.  
“I don’t think you quite understand the circumstances here.” The Dean says intervening, “We have complete authority over this campus and everyone on it. We can confiscate anything we want to. Not to mention, we have even higher authority than this school backing us. So, yes, we can take it.”  
“My flash drive!” LaFontaine shouts, “It’s not important, I swear. It just has my school work on it.”  
Phil looks to the Dean and the Dean shrugs, then Phil removes the flash drive and tosses it to them and they catch it.  
“Is that everything?” Phil asks and LaFontaine stiffly nods their head, Phil then begins to leave.  
“How could you do this Phil, I thought we were on the same side.” Laura says.  
Phil stops and turns around, “We are on the same side. This is for your own good. And you made it very apparent you weren’t on my side when you decided not to trust me with the creature or with the rest of you investigation. And don’t think I haven’t forgotten that you tied me to a chair and held me prisoner for several days.” He then turns back around and leaves the room.  
The Dean stands there, sinister smile still plastered on his face, “I shouldn’t have to say this, but I will. If I catch you working on this investigation or getting in our way in any other fashion again, you will not get a warning, no disciplinary probation, no suspension, you will be expelled. And depending on the severity of the obstruction, you could very well be charged with something. I don’t know what that would be yet, but I’m sure I could come up with something if you catch my drift. Understood?”  
They all nod, not saying a word.  
“Good.” He says, “Now, have a wonderful rest of the day Ladies.” He then turns around and leaves the room, the burly guards follow him.  
There is a moment of silence as all of them just stand there and then Danny says, “Well that sucked.”

End of video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Capsaicin can actually make you feel hot. The capsaicin binds to the TRPV1 and signals the brain in the same way heat normally would. This is why you get hot when eating things like peppers. When using pure capsaicin, the body can even get tricked into inflaming itself and you can actually get burned from it. 
> 
> I am taking some creative license here though and assuming they're going to modify capsaicin in a special way that can trick the body into thinking its hot enough to get rid of the creature without doing too much damage. I don't know if such a thing exists, but it does here.


	27. And right back into it

3/5/15

Laura sits in front of the camera back in her and Carmilla’s room. She has her head in her hand and she looks miserably at the camera. Carmilla is reading in the background.   
“So, I guess that’s it everybody. This is the end of the line for us on this investigation.” Laura says and Carmilla grunts in the background, Laura looks at her and then continues, “And I suppose, of all the ways this could have ended, this isn’t the worst. I mean, the girls who were murdered will get justice, hopefully no more girls will get murdered, and we can return back to our semi-normal lives. That’s what we wanted…right?” Laura sighs, “Maybe we’re not the ones solving the case, but we left it in the hands of the good guys, right?”  
“I don’t think of anyone who points a poison dart at me as a good guy.” Carmilla says and then looks up from her book, “But they do seem committed to solving this, I’ll give them that.”  
“And at least they let us back into our room.” Laura says, “Although I’m not sure I can ever sleep in my bed again, not after what happened.”  
“You can always sleep in mine with me.” Carmilla says and Laura smiles for a moment.  
She then sighs and turns to Carmilla, ““Yeah, it’s just…is it wrong of me to feel bad about this?”   
Carmilla looks up from her book again and then sees Laura’s face. She sighs and gets up off the bed, slinking over to Laura, and sitting down in the chair next to her.   
“Cupcake, there is nothing wrong in feeling bad.” Carmilla says, “We put a lot of work into solving this, most of the work actually. We did nearly everything. We led them right to the ten yard line and then got benched before getting the touchdown.”  
“Was that a football metaphor?” Laura asks, smirking and Carmilla shrugs.  
“They pulled us out of this because they didn’t think we could handle it, because they didn’t think we were good enough to work with them.” Carmilla says, “And frankly, that’s rather insulting because we’ve proven time and again we’re good enough, better even. So Creampuff, it’s okay to feel bad about this. But you should feel less bad and instead feel angry. They snubbed us. Plus, I still don’t trust them.”  
“I am angry.” Laura says and sighs, “Or I was, but I’ve moved past angry and into sad because there nothing we can do about it.”  
“We could always continue.” Carmilla says.   
Laura laughs, but there’s no humor in it, “And what? Get expelled, get you and me and everyone else expelled? What’s the point anyway, they took all our research, all our equipment. We’d be starting from square one again.”  
“They didn’t take our minds, the things that got us this far. Something they don’t have.” Carmilla says.  
“No, it’s okay Carm.” Laura says, “I appreciate you trying, but it’s over and that’s okay.” She gives Carmilla a hug, “We’ll just continue our semester like normal college students.”  
“You do know I’m a 300 year old vampire, right?” Carmilla asks, raising an eyebrow.  
“Okay, fine, semi-normal college students.” Laura says with a laugh and then looks Carmilla in the eyes, remembering how beautiful her girlfriend is and how lucky she is to have her, “Besides, it’ll be nice to finally have some time to ourselves.” She gives Carmilla a lustful look and Carmilla is startled by the sudden change in mood, but not unpleasantly so.  
“I like where this train of thought is going.” Carmilla says, her voice getting lower.  
Laura suddenly leaps for her, their lips smacking together rather forcefully. Carmilla is taken aback for a moment until she sinks into the kiss, wrapping her arms around Laura’s waist. She then hoist her up, Laura’s legs wrapping around Carmilla’s lower back, both of them still passionately kissing as she does so. Carmilla then turns to her bed and they fall towards it.

Later that night, around midnight

Laura and Carmilla are both in Carmilla’s bed, sleeping. Laura is on her back with her arm under Carmilla’s head. Carmilla is on her side, curled up around Laura, with her arm across Laura’s waist and their legs entangled with one another.  
Suddenly Carmilla lifts her head up, eyes wide open and alert. Laura doesn’t wake up. Carmilla tilts her head as if listening for something and then whispers to Laura, “Laura, did you hear that?” When she gets no response she shakes Laura and bit and Laura groans.  
“Laura, did you hear that?” Carmilla asks.  
“What?” Laura asks groggily.  
“I don’t know.” Carmilla says, “It sounded like screaming I think.”  
Laura slowly opens her eyes and listens, “I don’t hear anything.”  
Carmilla listens again and frowns, “It’s stopped now.”  
“What do you think it was?” Laura asks, starting to get concerned.  
Carmilla pauses and then shrugs, “Nothing, don’t worry about it. It was probably nothing. Go back to sleep.”  
Laura looks at her, “Are you sure?”  
Carmilla nods and then smirks at her, “Yes, Buttercup, get some beauty sleep because we both know that pretty little face is the only reason I’m dating you.”  
This gets an offended huffing noise and a slap on the arm from Laura who then rolls her eyes, yawns, and closes her eyes again. Carmilla smiles at Laura, a warm look in her eyes. She listens, concerned once more, but when she hears nothing she closes her eyes and lays her head back down on Laura’s shoulder.

Two hours later

The two have shifted in their sleep, with Laura wrapped around Carmilla now. This time when Carmilla wakes up though, she doesn’t do it carefully. She sits bolt upright in bed, tense, and on alert. Laura half wakes up and frowns, but doesn’t open her eyes.  
Carmilla listens and then her eyes widen, “Laura! Get up! Now!  
Carmilla’s tone instantly wakes Laura and she sits up, “What? What’s the matter?” Carmilla is now in a crouched position, looking ready to spring into action.  
“There’s something in the room.” She hisses out.  
Laura gets up onto her knees now, still on the bed, and begins to look around in the darkness, but can barely see anything. She can see Carmilla scanning the room though.  
“What is it?” Laura asks, “What’s in here?”  
Carmilla shakes her head, “I don’t know.” She continues to listen and scan the room and then suddenly lunges forward. Laura can hear a skittering sound and then a high pitched keening noise as something crawls out from under the bed and then panics as Carmilla attacks it. It manages to dodge her attack and crawl back under the bed.  
“It’s the thing!” Carmilla says, “The creature, it must have escaped!”  
Laura leaps off the bed and sprints to the light, turning it on. She can now see and begins to scan the room for the creature.  
“Where did it go?” Laura asks nervously, picking up a frying pan in the meantime.   
“Under the bed.” Carmilla replies, beginning to crouch down to get it.  
“NO! Don’t do that!” Laura shouts and Carmilla jerks upright, “It could jump out at your face.”  
“Fine then, how do you suggest we…” Carmilla begins, but then screeches as it pops out from under the bed and lunges at her. She dodges it, just barely and then grabs the iron poker that’s still in their room and skewers the creature in one swift move.  
“Gotcha!” Carmilla shouts as she holds the skewered creature aloft, but then scowls as it begins to transform into its blob form and drip down the poker, “Well, fuck.”  
“We have to use…” Laura says, but then yelps, “AAAEEEH!” As it leaps off the poker and lunges for her now instead. She swings the frying pan and it smacks into it hard, sending the creature flying directly at Carmilla.  
“Shit!” Carmilla says, jumping away, but the creature manages to latch onto her arm. In blob form it wraps gooey tendrils around her arm and begins to try and crawl up towards her face.  
“Carmilla!” Laura shouts, running at her with the frying pan. Carmilla in the meantime has transformed her other arm into its panther form and is scratching at the thing viciously with little effect. Laura swings the frying pan and slams it down on the creature and Carmilla’s arm. The creature splatters outward, but doesn’t release its grip on Carmilla’s arm.  
“Ow! Shit! Cupcake, that hurt!” Carmilla says.  
“Sorry.” Laura says, “We have to get it off. We need to use heat or fire or…”  
Carmilla looks down at the creature snaking its way up her arm, glaring at it for a good ten to fifteen seconds and suddenly it bursts into flame, along with part of Carmilla’s arm. She hisses out in pain as her arm burns, but the creature lets out an even more anguished high pitched cry as it transforms back into its solid form and then begins to crumble from the heat. In under a minute the creature has turned to ash.  
Laura then grabs for a towel and begins to snuff out the fire blazing on Carmilla’s arm. Once it’s out, Laura gasps as she sees the extent of the damage. The fire in certain places burned down low enough that she can see the muscle underneath.   
“Oh my god, Carm.” Laura says, reaching out to her, but not wanting to hurt her.   
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Carmilla repeats over and over, every once in a while letting out a cry of pain.   
Laura then races over to the fridge and pulls out the soy milk container. She races back and hands it to Carmilla who downs it in only a few gulps. After a few minutes the burns already start to look better and Carmilla relaxes some.  
Laura moves forward and wraps her arms around Carmilla and Carmilla hugs her back.   
“I’ll be okay, Cupcake.” Carmilla says.  
“I know.” Laura says, “But you still deserve a hug anyway.”  
Carmilla smiles and then frowns, pushing Laura away as she tilts her head to listen, “Damn, looks like we’re not out of the woods yet, Creampuff.”  
“What’s the matter?” Laura asks.  
“The ginger twins’ fire alarm is going off.” Carmilla says and they both give each other a knowing look, and then race out of the room. 

End of video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting closer and closer to the end


	28. No sleep tonight

3/6/15  
Laura, Carmilla, LaFontaine, and Perry all sit in LaFontaine and Perry’s room. Laura has her laptop in their room again. Everyone looks a bit shaken, but okay. Some parts of the room look a bit scorched.  
“So, as you probably saw, Carmilla and I got attacked by the creature, what we thought was the one Phil’s organization had captured.” Laura tells the camera, “We killed it and then raced over here when we heard the fire alarm going off.”  
“And the fire alarm was going off because while these two were getting attacked by a creature, so were we, and we attacked ours with a lot more fire than they did.” LaFontaine says.  
“That doesn’t surprise me.” Carmilla says, “What does surprise me is that you still have eyebrows.”  
“Well, I’m surprised you even woke up to hear it coming.” Laura says, “I didn’t hear it until Carmilla woke me.”  
“I was still awake.” LaFontaine says, “Working on experiments and stuff when I heard it skittering around the room heading for the bed…and Perry.”  
“Which you reacted to rather quickly, which I appreciate. But also reacted to it by throwing more of that ignitable foam, which I didn’t appreciate.” Perry says with a frown, “Because they woke me up very quickly as I thought the room was exploding.   
“It was a foam capsule flare.” LaFontaine says with a smirk and pulls out a small tablet sized capsule, “It’s a little bit of the foam and a compound that ignites upon impact. You throw it on the ground with enough force and it lights up. It only lasts for a couple of seconds, but it burns white hot nearly instantly.”  
“That is awesome!” Laura says, “Can I have…” She trails off as she sees Carmilla shaking her head, “Or not.”  
“So they threw one of those capsule thingies at the ground, near the creature. They miss the creature, but they deter it from coming towards the bed. Of course, it instead flies towards them.” Perry says.  
“So I leap out of the way and Perry is up and screaming out, confused.” LaFontaine says, “And I point to the creature and she it and then grabs a pot and lunges for it, but misses. And the creature lunges for me again, so I throw more of the capsules, but continue to miss. But I do distract it enough for Perry to capture it in the pot, and then we threw a capsule in the pot, and it roasted.”  
“And that’s when we came in.” Laura says.  
“We appreciate the attempted rescue.” Perry says.  
“But we managed it ourselves.” LaFontaine finishes and then holds up their hand for a high five. Perry looks at them confused for a moment and then smiles, giving them the high five which LaFontaine punctuates with a, “Yeah!”  
“But this begs the question, if we got attacked by the creature and you guys got attacked by the creature, where did the second one come from?” Laura asks, “Assuming that one of them was even Zany to begin with.”  
“They could be the ones that hatched before from Martina and Naomi.” Perry suggests.  
“Yeah, but I would have thought that they’d have found hosts by now.” LaFontaine says, “Maybe not.”  
“Or, I hate to say this, more girls could have died.” Laura says and then turns to Carmilla, “Those screams you heard before…could they be…?”  
Carmilla shrugs, “I don’t know.”  
“You heard screams?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Earlier.” Carmilla replies, “But I couldn’t be sure. It was far away.”  
“So I guess we’re not out of this after all.” LaFontaine says.  
“We should check on Danny and Gwen.” Perry says, “The creatures attacked us for a reason.”  
“Gwen and Danny aren’t in their rooms tonight.” Laura says, “It’s a full moon and Danny is out with her.”  
“Which still means there could be a creature waiting in their room when they come back.” LaFontaine says.  
“Alright, well, I guess we’re trekking to the Summer Society house.” Laura says getting up and then pauses, “Bring some more of those capsules.”

A few hours later

Laura, Carmilla, LaFontaine, and Perry are back in Laura and Carmilla’s room. There are some ash marks on their faces and some burnt spots on their clothing. They all look exhausted. Despite that though, LaFontaine is working on something in the background.  
Laura is propping her head up with her hand as she yawns and faces the camera, “Well, we’ve now successfully taken out two more of the creatures. There was one in each of their rooms’. They aren’t back yet though, so they have no idea.”  
“Did you text them?” Perry asks.  
Laura nods, “Yeah, I sent Danny a text, but haven’t gotten a response back. We’ll just have to tell them tomorrow…or I mean today.”  
Perry nods and then turns to the camera, “So, we got there and knocked on the door. Some very unhappy Summer Society girls answered. Although when we explained it was a matter of life and death…sort of, concerning Danny and Gwen they were happy to let us in.” Perry says, “We went to Danny’s room first.”  
“And as soon as Carmilla opened the door the thing jumped down from the ceiling right above the door.” Laura says, “It was terrifying. If she didn’t have vampire reflexes, it would have gotten her.”  
“I get out of the way.” Carmilla says.  
“More like dove to the floor.” LaFontaine corrects and gets a glare from Carmilla.  
“Whatever.” Carmilla says.  
“She gets out of the way and the thing hits the ground and scurries past us and out into the hallway. We spend the next fifteen minutes trying to track it through the house when we hear screaming coming from downstairs.” Laura says, “We sprint downstairs and find the thing in the kitchen, attacking one of the girls making a late night snack. She’s got it cornered though with a spatula and hot frying pan that was sitting on the stovetop.”  
“We quickly capture it and then Carmilla lights it on fire.” LaFontaine says and then turns to Carmilla, “So how exactly does the fire thing work? Do you just think about stuff lighting on fire? Do you get a warm tingly feeling? Is it tiring? Can I do some tests?”  
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Take it down a notch. You may not do experiments on me.” Carmilla says and LaFontaine frowns.  
“So then we head to Gwen’s room and this one is waiting for us too. I’m pretty sure they communicated with each other because this time it waited until Carmilla was in the room and then attacked one of us. But fortunately we didn’t just walk into the room like before. Carmilla went in and spotted it creeping along the wall.” Laura says.  
“And then I popped it with one of the capsules. Destroyed a good chunk of Gwen’s wall and a Jay-Z poster, I mean who knew with her acoustic folky style, but I don’t think she’ll be too mad…I hope.” LaFontaine says.  
“But that makes four creatures.” Laura says, “If we assume that three of them are the three from Martina, Naomi, and Gerdy…”  
“Which we don’t even know if that’s true.” LaFontaine interrupts.  
Laura nods, “Right, we don’t even know if that’s true. But if it is, then we have one more from an unknown victim.”  
“Or….” Carmilla begins.  
“Or we have more of these creatures on our hands than we originally suspected from an unknown source.” Laura says.  
“We need to tell Phil and his organization.” Perry says.  
Laura, LaFontaine, and Carmilla all scowl and make faces.   
“Why should we? They wouldn’t include us.” Carmilla says.  
“They took all my research and all my equipment!” LaFontaine says.  
“They don’t respect us!” Laura says.  
Perry makes a tssking noise and shakes her head, “Stop being childish, all of you. You very well know that our best chance of stopping these things now is to cooperate with Phil and his group. They’re the ones spearheading the investigation now; they have a right to know, no matter our personal feelings about them. Besides, we at least need to warn them that there might be are more creatures on the loose, for their own safety.”  
Laura lets out a long sigh and then nods, “You’re right, I hate that you’re right, but you’re right.”  
Carmilla continues to shake her head though, “So, what? We’re going to go crawling right back to them, after everything they did? Like we owe them something, when instead they really owe us. They owe us everything and we owe them nothing. They got themselves into this mess on their own and decided they didn’t need our help. Well, if that’s what they want, then I say that’s what they get. Let them save themselves.”  
“Carmilla, this isn’t about pride or ego. They need us, it’s right thing to do and you know it.” Perry counters.  
“You say it’s the right thing, but that doesn’t make it right for us.” Carmilla replies.  
“What does that even mean?” Perry asks, starting to get annoyed.  
“It means, June Cleaver, that they’re a big bad government agency whose sole job is to take on the supernatural. They can handle themselves. We don’t need to get involved with them any longer.”  
“So you’re saying, we give up?” LaFontaine asks.  
“No, we don’t give up.” Carmilla says, “Those things attacked us. Attacked people I care about. I don’t take that lightly. I just think we should continue to do what we’ve always done, take care of ourselves because no one else will.”  
They all turn to Laura who suddenly feels even more tired than she was ten minutes ago. She sighs, “I can’t just sit by and let people get attacked, no matter how satisfying it would be to see.  
Carmilla groans, “This is a mistake.”  
“I know.” Laura says with a sigh, “But I can’t help it.”  
Carmilla shakes her head some more and then smirks, “You’re too good for this world, Creampuff.”  
Laura smiles back at her and then notices LaFontaine working, “What are you doing?”  
LaFontaine looks up when they realize that Laura is talking to them, “I’m working on finishing up the tracker.”  
“Wait, I thought they confiscated that?” Laura asks.  
“Yeah, one of them.” LaFontaine says with a smirk.  
“And your research too.” Perry says.  
“It’s all up here anyway.” LaFontaine says tapping their head, “I would have finished it yesterday had I known we were going to be dragged back into this so soon. But I thought we were done.”  
“So did I.” Laura says.  
“You know, we didn’t even get one night of normalcy.” Carmilla says.  
“You know that you said ‘people’ you care about before.” LaFontaine says, not looking up from their work, but smirking nonetheless.  
Carmilla looks at them, “What?”  
“Before, when you said the creatures attacked us and you don’t take it lightly, you said they attacked people you care about, as in plural, as in more than just Laura.” LaFontaine says and then looks up at Carmilla, a huge grin on their face, “You do care about us, awww.”  
“See how much I care about you when I rip your stupid face off.” Carmilla snaps and Laura laughs as LaFontaine holds up their hands in mock surrender.  
“Whatever you say, you big softie.” LaFontaine says.  
Carmilla looks livid, but Laura intervenes, “When will that be done?”  
“Like fifteen minutes, maybe twenty.” LaFontaine says.   
“Wow, you were really close to being done.” Laura says.  
LaFontaine sighs, “I really was.”  
“So, you’ll finish up with that and then we’ll head over to the Zeta Frat house to find Phil.” Laura says.  
“Sounds like a plan.” Carmilla grunts out.  
“Here we go again.” Perry sighs.

An hour later

The room is empty and then suddenly Laura sprints inside, Carmilla close on her heels. LaFontaine and Perry come in a few moments later. They slam the door shut and all, except Carmilla are breathing hard. The three sit down on Laura’s bed to catch their breath. Carmilla sits down on her own.   
“Well that was…” Laura begins after regaining her breath.  
“Close?” LaFontaine finishes.  
“Yeah.” Laura says, “You don’t think they saw us?”  
“Or heard your stupid fucking tracker.” Carmilla says to LaFontaine, “What setting did you put that thing on, air horn?”  
“Well it’s a tracker, it’s supposed to alert whoever has it to the presence of a creature.” LaFontaine snaps back.  
“Yeah, alert the person, not everyone in a five mile radius.” Carmilla says.   
“Well excuse me for being able to throw this together in under two weeks. It’s going to have some kinks.” LaFontaine counters.  
“I don’t think they saw us…or heard us. I mean we’d know if they saw or heard us, right?” Perry asks, “They’d have chased us. They’d be here now. Kicking down the door. Dragging us away. We’re safe, right?”  
“Yeah Perr, I think we’re safe.” LaFontaine says, wrapping an arm around her.  
“You keep telling yourself that Dr. Doofensmirtz.” Carmilla mutters.  
LaFontaine’s head suddenly snaps up to look at her, “Did you just call me by a character’s name from Phineas and Ferb?”  
Carmilla suddenly blushes and Laura looks at her shocked, “What, no, you’re imagining things.”  
“Do you watch Phineas and Ferb, Carm?” Laura asks, trying not to laugh as a smile creeps up on her face.  
Carmilla shakes her head, “No, absolutely not. It’s a children’s cartoon. It’s an insipid program for infantile minds, not three hundred year old vampires.” She says this quickly, but seems flustered. Laura’s never seen her quite so flustered before.  
“Oh my god! You do watch Phineas and Ferb!” Laura says, giggling now, “Do you watch other cartoons? Do you watch Adventure Time? I bet you’d like Marceline. Oh my god, we have so much to discuss right…”  
Perry clears her throat to interrupt and Laura realizes they have more important matters to talk about.  
“Right, never mind.” Laura says and Carmilla seems to visibly relax as their conversation shifts. Laura notices and says, “But don’t think we’re not discussing this later.” And Carmilla groans in response.  
Laura then turns to the camera, “So, we headed off to the Zeta House to go find Phil, but we never made it there because as we were walking LaFontaine’s tracker thing went off. And we turn around and there is Phil and several of the campus security guys, you know the ones in the suits walking around all nonchalantly like it isn’t nearly four in the morning. And the tracker thing is pointing right at them and getting louder as they get closer. So we dive for the bushes. And LaFontaine is trying to turn the thing off, but it’s not working, and they’re now walking towards us.”  
“I’m sorry, it was being very difficult.” LaFontaine says annoyed, “I made it too well.”  
“Anyway, they finally get it to turn off, but they’re so close now and we can tell there’s something not right about them. They’re walking funny, like they’re not used to walking around.” Laura says.  
“Like they’re getting used to new bodies.” LaFontaine says, “Kinda like the alien guy in Men in Black.”  
“Yeah. And their talking is weird too, like they’re getting used to speaking that way.” Laura says, “So we already know we’re screwed. They’ve been taken over by the creatures.”  
“And we’re huddled in the bushes, just waiting for them to walk away when someone steps on a branch and snaps a twig.” LaFontaine says.  
“Sorry.” Laura says.  
“And so they all turn towards us at once. Like, at the same time. It was super creepy.” LaFontaine says.  
“So we decide to make a break for it.” Laura says, “So we sprint out of there, hoping they don’t see us.”  
“Well, they didn’t follow us, so I think that’s a good sign.” LaFontaine says.  
“Or they let us go because they already have a sinister plan set up.” Carmilla comments.  
“Oh my god, could you be any more negative, please?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Sure.” Carmilla says, “We’re fucked. The organization that is supposed to be taking out these creatures and also just so happens to be in charge of this school, couldn’t handle their own shit, and are now being controlled by said creatures. It won’t be long before the cafeteria is serving piercer beetle eggs on a platter for us all to consume and become nice little incubators ripe to burst open at any moment. And those of us who don’t have the proper equipment to give birth will most likely become slaves in the Queen’s drone army. With tens of thousands of students on this campus, the Queen then has enough drones to continue her spread outward, perhaps gaining enough momentum to take over a good chunk of Austria, maybe more before anyone notices. And by then it may already be too late. That negative enough for you?”  
Everyone looks at her slack jawed for a moment.  
“Oookaay.” Laura says, “Wow. Anyone got anything else to add?  
“We don’t know the Dean has been taken over, we could go to him.” Perry suggests.  
“If Phil and the others in his organization have been taken, we have to assume the Dean has been as well.” Laura says.  
“So we’re on our own again.” LaFontaine says and then shrugs, “Alright, let’s do this.”  
Laura’s phone suddenly begins to buzz and they all jump, including Carmilla, from the sound. Laura pulls out her phone and sees that it’s a text from Danny.  
“Oh, Danny texted.” Laura says and then frowns.  
“What is it, Cupcake?” Carmilla asks, getting up from the bed to got stand by her, “What does Clifford want?”  
“She wants us to meet her at the North Woods now, she says it’s urgent.” Laura says, “What could this possibly be now.” She whines and then sighs, “Alright guys, like LaFontaine said, let’s do this.”  
“Yay, back on the case.” LaFontaine says, but rather unenthusiastically.  
“I guess we’re not getting any sleep tonight.” Laura groans.  
“Not the way in which I had hoped we wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight.” Carmilla comments and Laura just rolls her eyes as Carmilla shoots her a seductive wink.

End of video


	29. Into the woods

3/6/15

The video playing on the screen appears to be from a phone camera clutched in someone’s hand. They’re trekking through what appears to be dense woods and it’s still somewhat dark out as the sun is just beginning to rise. In front of this person, you can see the backs of LaFontaine and Perry who are holding hands.   
A voice to the person’s right asks, “Where did she say to meet, Cupcake?” And the camera turns with the person to get an upward angled view of Carmilla. The person holding the camera is obviously Laura then.  
“Not much further I think.” Laura says.  
“And we’re sure this is Danny and not blob infected Danny?” LaFontaine asks from in front.  
“We’re not sure of anything at this point.” Laura says.  
“So what you’re saying is we could be walking into a trap.” LaFontaine says.  
“Yep.” Laura replies.  
“Great.” LaFontaine says and they all continue to walk into the woods.  
“I don’t like us being in here.” Perry says, “We were not supposed to enter the North Woods without the Dryads permission. It was a part of the truce we agreed upon earlier.”  
“We have no choice.” Laura says, “Besides, no Dryads have made any moves to stop us yet. I feel like they would have if they wanted to.”  
“I just feel like we’re trespassing.” Perry says, “I hope they won’t mind us being here.”  
LaFontaine steps through a heavily wooded area and into a clearing. They stop short and then say, “I don’t think they’re going to mind.” Their voice is low and rather emotionless.  
“Why did you stop LaFontaine.” Perry says and then gasps as she sees something ahead.  
“What? What is it? What’s the matter?” Laura asks and Carmilla steps closer to Laura in a protective manner.   
“I smell blood.” Carmilla says before Laura steps forward. Laura looks at her concerned and then steps into the clearing, Carmilla stepping with her.  
“Oh my god.” Laura says as she stares at the carnage in front of her. Lying in heaps near one another, with their chests split open are at least thirty Dryad bodies.   
“Well now we know where the other creatures came from.” Carmilla says and the others just nod numbly.  
They hear a rustling in the bushes from across the clearing and everyone is on alert. Carmilla is half transforming into her panther form when Danny and Gwen step through. Gwen is in her human form. Carmilla quickly shifts back.  
“Sorry, we had to grab Gwen’s clothes, she was shifting back.” Danny says and then looks at their faces, “Yeah…so…we thought you might want to see this.”  
“You were right.” Laura says, “How did you even find them?”  
Danny shrugs, “Gwen smelled the blood.”  
“We were in the South woods, across campus, when I heard what I thought might be screams several hours ago.” Gwen says.  
“I heard those too.” Carmilla says with a nod.  
“It was so abrupt though, that I couldn’t quite pinpoint where it had come from. I thought I had imagined it, honestly.” Gwen says.  
“Yeah, I thought I had dreamt it.” Carmilla says, “It was so fast. Like a loud, rising cry all at once, and then nothing.”  
“But then later on, when we were heading across campus I smelled blood.” Gwen says, “So I went to go check it out. It took us a while though to find them…Danny can’t follow directions for shit.” Gwen chuckles and nudges Danny with her elbow.  
Danny scowls, “Hey, excuse me for not being able to speak wolf.” But then she smiles and Gwen and nudges her back. They suddenly get into a pushing fight where they’re shoving each other back and forth.  
Carmilla clears her throat and they stop, looking embarrassed.  
“Right, anyway, yeah, so what do you think this means?” Danny asks.  
“I think it means we’re in deep shit.” Carmilla says.  
“Carmilla is being pessimistic again.” Laura says which gets a glare from Carmilla, “But she is right, this doesn’t bode well. We were actually attacked by these creatures tonight. I assume this is where they came from.”  
“Yeah, I got your text.” Danny says, “Thanks for taking out the ones in our room for us.”  
“No problem.” Laura says.  
“I mean, it wasn’t like it was easy.” LaFontaine says, “Those things are tricky.”  
“And Phil and some if not all of his organization has been taken over. How did the creatures even know about them?” Laura asks.  
“They can communicate over great distances with that psychic link; I’d assume Zany informed them about us and Phil’s group.” LaFontaine says.  
“So…what do we do now?” Perry asks.  
Laura yawns, suddenly feeling the weight of everything that has happened.  
“I can’t think right now, I need some sleep.” Laura says.  
“We should all get some rest.” Gwen says, “But maybe not alone.”  
“What do you mean?” Perry asks.  
“I think we should all stick together. Have someone keep watch.” Gwen says, “I don’t trust these guys not to make another attack against us.”  
“Maybe we shouldn’t go back to the room either.” Laura says looking at Carmilla when she says this, “They know we live there. They can find us too easily there.”  
“Our room is out then, too.” LaFontaine says.  
“And ours.” Danny adds.  
“We could always go to the Zetas; they probably won’t expect us to be there.” Laura suggests, but they all scowl and shake their heads.  
“No way!” Danny says.  
“I am not going to stay with those Neanderthals.” Carmilla says.  
“Nope.” LaFontaine says.  
“I’d rather not.” Perry says.  
“Okay, okay, it was just a suggestion.” Laura says, “Then where do we go?”  
“Is there anywhere that’s safe on campus though, really?” Carmilla asks, “I say it won’t really matter, they can find us pretty much anywhere.”  
“Except maybe right here.” LaFontaine says and everyone looks at them surprised, “Well maybe not right here, what with all the dead Dryads, but in the woods. Most people don’t come in here and even if they do know the Dryads are dead, I doubt they’d come back in here. I mean the Dryads aren’t the only creatures that wander this forest.”  
“You want to sleep here? In the woods?” Danny asks.  
“Well, yeah. It’ll be much more difficult to find us in here.” LaFontaine suggests.  
“But the woods are so…dirty.” Perry says looking at all the mud and grime everywhere, “And we’d have to sleep on the ground.”  
“I’m so tired, I could fall asleep anywhere.” Laura says, “I’m up for it.”  
Gwen shrugs, “I’ve slept in the woods plenty of times.”  
Danny nods, “Alright, let’s start looking for a place to sleep.”  
“Who wants to take first watch?” Laura asks and then yawns again.  
“I will, Cupcake.” Carmilla says and before Laura can object she adds, “I’m not that tired. You all look exhausted. I can manage with much less sleep than you.”  
They look around for about fifteen minutes before finding another clearing, one without any dead Dryads in it. Laura plops down at the base of a tree and nearly passes out right there, but Carmilla sits down next to her, with her back up against the tree, and eases Laura down so that her head is in Carmilla’s lap. Laura falls asleep the second her eyes close and Carmilla can’t help, but smile fondly at the peacefulness of her face and her quiet contented breathing as she lays there.  
Carmilla looks up a moment later to see that everyone else has fallen asleep as well. LaFontaine and Perry are sitting up against a nearby tree, heads resting on one another, snoring softly. Gwen has shifted back into her wolf form and is wrapped around Danny, who is lying against Gwen’s soft fur. Carmilla shakes her head at the lot of them, these humans…and werewolf, who have worked tirelessly to solve the murders of girls they barely know, and to protect a campus which will probably never know of their efforts. It’s remarkable really. In all her years on this earth, she’s never met another group of people so willing to throw themselves into danger like they are. And that has a lot to do with the girl resting softly in her lap.   
Carmilla looks down at Laura again and finds herself smiling once more. She’s been doing that a lot lately, smiling, more than she’s done in a very long time, and that too has to do with the girl in her lap.   
Carmilla suddenly feels a sense of dread settle into the pit of her stomach. They’re about to throw themselves into danger again and Carmilla can’t help, but think how invested she’s become in Laura, how attached. If something were to happen to her, Carmilla doesn’t know what she would do. She looks up at everyone else again and realizes how invested she’s become in all of them, even Danny and Gwen, even the meathead puppy who follows Laura around. And those thoughts scare her a little, because she knows this world too well, and she knows there’s a good chance they won’t all make it out of this alive.   
Carmilla then gets a resolved look on her face because she’d be damned sure they all make it out of this, she would stop at nothing to make sure of it. 

They each take turns taking watch in two hour intervals. It’s about two o’clock in the afternoon by the time they decide they should probably be getting up. Laura had taken the last watch, but despite getting a solid seven hours of sleep, she still feels out of it. She feels groggy and stuffed up, like she was starting to get a cold. She internally groans, thinking about all the things they would have to do, and her being sick at the same time.  
After two hours she wakes up Carmilla who had been lying across Laura’s lap. Carmilla blinks up at her confused for a moment and Laura can’t help, but think how cute she looks still groggy from sleep.   
“Cupcake?” She asks, her voice raspier from sleep, she then looks around and realizes where they are, “What time is it?”  
Laura looks at her watch and then says, “It’s a little after two.” Carmilla nods, blinking slowly as she tries to wake up.  
“I think we should probably be all getting up.” Laura says, sniffling a bit.  
Carmilla frowns, but nods, “Yeah, I suppose so. I’ll wake up the ginger twins, you get Turner and Hooch.” Carmilla then extricates herself from Laura’s lap, but Laura quickly grabs her wrist before she walk away. She then pulls Carmilla towards her.  
“What?” Carmilla asks, but her question is answered when Laura places a soft, but passionate kiss to her lips. When Laura pulls away Carmilla asks, with a smile on her face, “What was that for?”  
Laura shrugs, “I just felt like doing it.”  
Carmilla’s smile widens and she pulls Laura close, their foreheads touching, their lips inches apart. Carmilla can feel Laura’s warm, sweet breath upon her face, the smell of her, of lilacs and vanilla, begins to fill her senses blocking out everything around them. Carmilla reaches up, her hand pressing lightly to the back of Laura’s neck and she begins to drag her fingers softly across her skin causing Laura to shiver. Then Carmilla leans in gently, capturing Laura’s lower lip with her own and then gliding them across them, soft and tender. She hears Laura’s heartbeat speed up in her chest and she smiles. Their lips then crash together more forcefully, as Laura begins to push back with her own lips and Carmilla can begin to feel the heat radiating from Laura. They bodies intertwine, melding together, and moving in rhythm with one another until they forget everything, all their worries and pain.   
It isn’t until Laura takes a deep, gasping breath that they part and hear all the sounds of the woods around them, reminding them of why they are there and what needs to be done. They look longingly into each other’s eyes as if they would like nothing more than to go back to forgetting, to push everything else away, and live in their own little bubble. But they can’t and Carmilla wishes, not for the first time, that she was just a normal teenage girl, who could do normal teenage things like kiss her girlfriend without worrying about the fates of many lives hanging in the balance.   
But she isn’t a normal teenage girl and they do have to worry about those things. She sighs out and Laura sighs with her. They both nod in agreement and Carmilla gets up again and walks over to LaFontaine and Perry. Laura gets to her feet and heads over to Gwen and Danny. As the others wake up, they look back at one another, their eyes locking, and their faces in agreement; when they make it out of this, and they will make it out of this, they will resume that kiss and many more things they wish they could be doing right now.

End of video


	30. Infected

3/6/15

The camera flicks on and Laura is sitting in LaFontaine and Perry’s room on their bed. Carmilla is sitting next to her, lying against the wall, and playing with Laura’s hair. The room around them looks like a bit of a mess, although it appears Perry has cleaned up most of it and is continuing to do so as she flutters about the room. Gwen and LaFontaine are over by Lafontaine’s lab table setting up lab equipment and cleaning up broken glassware and spilled concoctions.  
“So it was probably a good thing we didn’t sleep in our rooms last night because our room was trashed and so were LaFontaine and Perry’s. Danny is heading over to the Summer Society house now to check on her and Gwen’s rooms. But I have a feeling it’ll be the same. I guess they were looking for us.” Laura says.  
“They ruined half my experiments.” LaFontaine grumbles, “They’re lucky they didn’t destroy anything that was particularly explosive or set off a deadly chain reaction. Some of these experiments are very sensitive.”  
Gwen nods, “At least we still have the equipment to make the capsaicin injection.”  
Perry rushes by, a frown on her face, “They didn’t need to toss the room once they saw we weren’t here. It’s just completely rude of them and totally unnecessary. They should be ashamed of themselves.”  
“Yes, the demonic bug creatures which have murdered people and possessed several more, should be ashamed they messed up your room.” Carmilla snidely remarks, which gets her a glare from Perry.  
“I hate to think what they had in store for us.” Laura says and sniffles, “But we have a plan for them, sort of. We just have to make enough capsaicin injections for everyone infected.”  
Gwen finishes setting up the experiment’s equipment and then heads into the kitchen. She pulls out several bags from the fridge. Inside are dried peppers.  
“Say hello to the Ghost Peppers.” Gwen says, “But before we open these suckers up, we should probably put on our gloves and goggles and stuff.” She places the bags down and she and LaFontaine put on goggles, a face mask, and gloves. They then hand Laura, Carmilla, and Perry goggles.  
“You know, just in case.” LaFontaine says with a shrug and moves back to the table.  
“Since I couldn’t get my hands on pure capsaicin, we’re going to extract the capsaicin from the peppers.” Gwen says and begins to take the peppers out, “And these babies are going to produce some pretty pure capsaicin.”  
“Ghost peppers are like the hottest peppers in the world, right?” Laura asks.  
“They used to be.” Gwen says, “But now the California Reaper is the hottest, with a Scoville rating of over 2 million I think. But I couldn’t get my hands on those either, so the Ghost pepper will have to do. This is still going to burn like a bitch.”  
“Yeah, so if you get any on your hands or anything, don’t touch yourself…anywhere.” LaFontaine warns, “Cause if you do, you’ll definitely wish you hadn’t.”  
“Thanks for the warning, cause that’s just what I need right now.” Laura says sarcastically, “A burning sensation while fighting monsters on top of being sick.” She sniffles for added effect.  
Carmilla tenses and stops running her fingers through Laura’s hair, she then looks at Laura more closely, “Laura, you didn’t tell me you were sick.”  
Laura shrugs, “I just started noticing, I didn’t think it was a big deal.”  
“It is a big deal because I think you got me sick too!” LaFontaine calls from across the room and Perry freezes where she’s standing.  
“Me three!” Gwen says as they continue to work.  
Carmilla and Perry exchange a look.  
“All three of you are sick?” Perry asks, “When did you first start feeling that way?”  
LaFontaine shrugs, “I don’t know, this morning.”  
“Yeah, same.” Gwen says.  
“Me too.” Laura says starting to get a sinking feeling in her stomach.  
“All three of you started to feel sick this morning?” Carmilla asks and both Gwen and LaFontaine stop working and turn around.   
“Um…yes.” Gwen says.  
“Oh, shit.” LaFontaine says, “You don’t think…we’re infected do you?”  
“Well, it’s kind of coincidental that all of you are sick at the same time and the first signs of the creature infecting you were flu like symptoms.” Perry says.  
“But how did we all get infected? When did we get infected? How come you two aren’t?” Laura asks.  
“Who knows when we got infected? The incubation period for the creature varies depending on what species it infects, but people of the same species all seem to go around the same time, which is why all the dryads ‘hatched’ together. But the incubation period can be as short as a month or as long as six months.” LaFontaine says, “The eggs were probably slipped into our food at some point.”  
“And well, as for the two of us, I drink blood mostly.” Carmilla says, “And its possible Perry just didn’t eat the same things you guys did.”  
“I don’t know. Perr and I share a lot of meals together.” LaFontaine says.  
“Maybe I just got lucky.” Perry says with a shrug.  
“God damn it!” LaFontaine shouts, “Why do I always get infected with the weird parasite creatures?! Can’t I go one semester without having some creepy crawly inside of me?! Damn!”  
“I am so with you.” Gwen says, “This accidental pregnancy stuff isn’t supposed to happen.”  
“So, we’re infected…how long do we have?” Laura asks.  
“Well, while the incubation period varies, the hatching part is kind of the same for everyone. The creature hatches in about three to four days.” LaFontaine says.  
“Three to four days? That’s…that’s so soon.” Laura says and looks frightened. Carmilla hugs her closer, but there is panic in her eyes as well.  
“When will you two geeks be ready with the stuff?” Carmilla asks.  
“We should be done in three days if nothing goes wrong.” Gwen says, “It’ll be tight, but I think we should make it.”  
“Then you’d better get back to work.” Carmilla snaps and Gwen nods. LaFontaine and Gwen turn back to their work, now with added vigor.  
“What if they don’t make it in time?” Laura asks Carmilla in a small voice.   
Carmilla looks at Laura and her heart aches, she wants nothing more than for this girl to feel safe and secure.  
“They will, Cupcake. They’ll finish in time. Don’t you worry about that.” Carmilla says and kisses her on the forehead. Laura moves in closer and rests her head against Carmilla’s shoulder.  
“Carm, I’m scared.” Laura says.  
“I know. But it’ll be okay, I promise.” Carmilla says.  
They’re in the room together for several hours working on the capsaicin. Gwen begins to sing softly to herself as she works.

I’m pregnant with a demon baby  
Trying to find a cure, hopefully, maybe  
So come on, let’s go get a win  
This school is the weirdest place I’ve ever been  
I should have just gone to community college

A few minutes later, Danny comes bursting in. She looks somewhat troubled as she comes in.  
“We have a problem.” She says.  
Carmilla groans, “What now?”  
“I’ve just come from the summer society house and many of them are sick. And from what I’ve gathered on campus, at least half the female population is showing the same initial symptoms that Martina, Naomi, and Gerdy were showing.” Danny says.  
“Half the female population?” LaFontaine blanches, “Half?”  
“That’s thousands of students.” Gwen says numbly, “We can’t make enough of this stuff in three days for all of them.”  
“We wouldn’t even make a dent.” LaFontaine says, looking stricken.   
“So, that’s it? We’ve lost?” Perry asks, “I don’t accept that. We can’t let thousands of girls die.”  
“I don’t know what to do.” Gwen says.  
“Well, how much can you make?” Laura asks.  
“Maybe enough for a hundred, two hundred girls.” Gwen says.  
“We have to come at this using a different approach.” LaFontaine says, “I’ll hit the books again, maybe I can find something we missed last time.”  
“I thought they took all our books.” Perry asks.  
LaFontaine smirks and holds up a flash drive, “But they didn’t take JP.”  
“I’ll keep working on the capsaicin.” Gwen says, “As a last resort.”  
“It’ll at least keep us alive.” Laura laughs darkly, not feeling much humor.  
Danny looks at her, “You? What do you mean you?”  
Everyone in the room looks around at one another and then Laura says, “Well…LaFontaine, Gwen, and myself are all infected.”  
“What!?” Danny shouts and then her eyes snap to Gwen, “You’re infected.”  
Gwen nods soberly.  
“No, no, no, no, this can’t be happening.” Danny says, running her hands through her hair.  
“Hey, hey, relax. It’ll be okay.” Gwen says, stepping forward, but not touching Danny since she has dried pepper extract all over her hands, “We’ll figure this out. I promise. I’m working on a cure right now, and LaFontaine will figure out something else. We’re going to be okay.”  
“I just can deal with you being infected. I can’t do anything about that. What am I supposed to do? Sit around wait for you to…I can’t do that. I’m not good at sitting around.” Danny says, “Give me a monster to fight and I’m your girl, but this waiting stuff, I can’t do it.”  
Gwen says, “I’ve got this. Once I’m all fixed up, you and I can go after the Queen together and kick the shit out of her. How does that sound?”  
“Sounds pretty damn fucking good right now.” Danny says and flops down onto the couch, “I’m going to kick her ass.”  
“Not if I do it first.” Carmilla says.  
Danny looks up and her and frowns, “I call dibs.”  
Carmilla scowls and says, “What are you? Four? You can’t call dibs.  
“Well I just did.” Danny says.  
“No way, I have just as much a claim to killing the Queen as you do.” Carmilla snarls.  
“Not anymore you don’t cause I called dibs.” Danny says with a shrug, “You snooze you lose bloodsucker.”  
“Not if I rip out your throat.” Carmilla replies.  
“Are you two seriously arguing about who gets to kill the Queen?” Laura asks in disbelief.  
“How about this, you both get a piece of the Queen.” LaFontaine tells them as they are looking through files on their laptop.  
Danny and Carmilla look at each other and Danny says, “I guess we could always…work together?”  
They look at each other and then laugh, shaking their heads.  
“Not a chance, Big Red.” Carmilla says.  
“Good, I feel the same.” Danny replies.  
“So how about, whoever gets the chance gets it?” Carmilla asks.  
“Fine by me.” Danny says, “I bet you ten bucks I kill the Queen.” She then holds out her hand.  
“Oh my god, you two are impossible.” Gwen says.  
“You’re one to talk Gwen.” Danny replies and then turns to Carmilla, “Well?”  
Carmilla thinks for a moment and then nods, “Fine.” She walks over and shakes Danny’s hand, “Make it fifty.”  
“Deal.” Danny says.  
“I wonder what I’ll do with that fifty.” Carmilla says after letting go of Danny’s hand, “Maybe Laura and I will go out to eat somewhere nice.”  
“Maybe I’ll spend it on a water gun and some holy water.” Danny counters.  
“Maybe I’ll chip in on your medical bills after I break your face.” Carmilla snaps.  
“Maybe I’ll spend it on a dust buster after I stake you and you turn to ash.” Danny replies.  
“Maybe I’ll spend it on your gravestone after I murder you.” Carmilla says casually.   
“Maybe I’ll spend it…” Danny begins, but Laura interrupts her.  
“Oh my god, will you two shut up!” Laura shouts and then shakes her head, “I’m sorry, I’m a little on edge and this bickering is not helping.”  
Carmilla walks over and hugs her close, “Sorry, Cupcake. We’ll behave.”  
“Yeah, sorry Laura, we’ll stop.” Danny says.  
Laura sighs and looks at her watch, “Well, I missed all my morning classes, but I do have a class this afternoon. I should probably go to that.”  
“Classes, really?” Carmilla asks.  
“Well, I’m not much use here, and I still have to pass my classes.” Laura says, “Which is easier when I actually go to them.”  
“Alright, but you’re not going alone.” Carmilla says, “I’m coming with you.”

End of video


	31. The Calm

3/7/15

They all appear to be in the living room of the Summer Society house. It looks like they’ve moved all Lafontaine’s equipment there and Gwen is continuing to work in the background. LaFontaine is sitting in one of the comfortable armchairs going through their laptop. Danny isn’t in the room, but her voice can be heard coming from one of the other rooms nearby.   
And Laura is kneeling worriedly next to a couch where Carmilla is lying rigid, her muscles spasming every once in a while, one of her hands clutched in Laura’s. Perry is standing near Laura, handing her tea and brushing sweat from Carmilla’s brow.  
Laura looks up at the camera and she seems paler than usual, her face fraught with concern.   
“So, I went to class and that wasn’t such a good idea.” Laura says, “They knew my class schedule and several of the campus security guys were waiting for us there. They fired a taser at me, but Carmilla steps in front and they basically bounce off her harmlessly. She then takes two of them out, before grabbing me, and sprinting out of there. We make it almost all the way back to the dorm before several more campus security guys show up, blocking us from entering the building. We fight them off, but one of them shoots that dart gun thing at Carmilla. The first one misses her, but the second one hit her in the arm. It was full of that toxin stuff that paralyzes vampires…or can kill them…” Laura’s voice cracks and she almost starts sobbing, “She fell to the ground almost instantly. One minute she was grabbing my arm, dragging me towards the building, and the next she collapses to the ground, her whole body shaking and convulsing. I thought….I thought she was dying.” Tears start to form at the corner of Laura’s eyes.  
Perry wraps an arm around Laura, “She’s alive, honey.”  
“She’ll be okay Laura.” LaFontaine says, “The stuff will wear off. Don’t worry.”  
Laura nods sadly, “I was just so scared that I was going to lose her all over again. Anyway, I manage to drag her inside the building just as the others come racing down the stairs.  
“We heard you shouting.” Gwen says over her shoulder, “And the sounds of a struggle.”  
“They help me bring Carmilla inside, but we decide that we’re no longer safe in the dorm.” Laura says, “We decided to come to the Summer Society house because there is safety in numbers and Danny is explaining what’s been going on to all her sisters now.”  
“This is coming to a head real fast though; we can’t just hole up in here.” LaFontaine says.  
“I know, we have to go after the Queen, soon.” Laura says, “But we don’t have a way of killing her without killing the host yet, not until Gwen’s finished with the capsaicin injection.”  
“And that won’t help us with those infected anyway.” Perry says.  
“I’m actually not so sure about that.” LaFontaine says and they all look at them, including Gwen.  
“I’ve been reading through this research about the creatures and their connection to one another and you know how they communicate via a psychic link?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Yeah.” Laura says with a nod.  
“Well I think it’s more than just them communicating with one another, they may actually be much more connected than I initially thought.” LaFontaine says.  
“Connected? How connected?” Laura asks.  
“Like each on is cell in an organism, as opposed to an individual creature. Like, if we kill one, they all will feel it kind of connected.” LaFontaine says.  
“Okay, and what happens if we kill the Queen?” Gwen asks.   
“The Queen acts kind of like the central nervous system, like the brain essentially.” LaFontaine replies.  
“So you’re saying if we kill the Queen, we kill all of them?” Laura asks.  
“I think so.” LaFontaine says.  
“How sure are you about this?” Laura asks.  
“Mmm, eighty percent….seventy-five…” LaFontaine says.  
“So there’s a one in four chance that we kill the Queen and nothing happens?” Gwen asks and then shrugs, “I’ll take those odds.”  
“It’s better than waiting to die.” Laura says.  
“So then it’s decided, we’re definitely going after the Queen.” LaFontaine says, “We just need a plan.”  
“And for Gwen to finish the injection and for Carmilla to wake up.” Laura says.  
“Well, let’s hope all of that happens by tomorrow.” LaFontaine says, “Otherwise we’re screwed.”  
Laura looks down at Carmilla who is still lying unconscious on the couch. Carmilla makes a pained face and Laura begins to stroke her hair and make soothing sounds, “You’re going to be alright. I’m here. I’m right here.” The words seem to help as Carmilla’s face relaxes once again.

Two hours later

Laura is still sitting the in the living room with her back up against the couch. She’s eating off the coffee table, when she hears a muffled groan. She whips around and leans over Carmilla to see her eyes beginning to flutter open. Laura grabs Carmilla’s hand again and Carmilla’s eyes open to look at her. There is a moment of confusion in her eyes, then happiness upon seeing Laura, and then outright panic as she realizes she can’t move.   
Laura can see several of Carmilla’s muscles twitching and she can hear muffled sounds coming from her throat as Carmilla tries to move. Laura can see her panic intensifying, as her eyes widen and begin to flash about the room, settling on Laura’s face again with a questioning gaze.  
Laura holds Carmilla’s hand up and kisses her fingers. She then says, “It’s going to be okay Carm, it’s only temporary. You were hit with one of those dart things, with that toxin in it. LaFontaine says you should start to regain increasing mobility over the next eight hours and should be back to normal by tomorrow. In the meantime, try and relax. Do you need me to get you anything?”  
Carmilla attempts to respond, but her mouth is closed and she can’t speak. The sounds she makes are muffled and unintelligible. Laura didn’t realize it was possible to look frustrated with just your eyes, but Carmilla was conveying that emotion quite well.  
Carmilla makes what Laura can only assume is a noise of annoyance and Laura can’t help, but smile at her, even if its strained, and says, “Okay, okay. How about this, blink once for no, twice for yes?”  
Carmilla blinks twice and Laura smiles at her again, “Alright. Now would you like me to get you anything?”  
Carmilla seems to think for a moment and then blinks twice.  
“Do you need blood?” Laura asks and Carmilla blinks twice again. Laura makes a move to get up, and let’s go of Carmilla’s hand, but Carmilla’s eyes widen in panic again and she starts making distressed noises. Laura turns back and clutches Carmilla’s hand once more, who although unable to move seems to relax visibly.  
“What’s the matter Carm? Are you in pain?” Laura asks, her eyes afraid, searching for any signs of distress.  
Carmilla blinks once.  
“What’s the matter?” Laura asks and then realizes how stupid a question that is, “I mean, I know you can’t answer. I’m just going to get you blood.”  
Carmilla blinks once.  
“No?” Laura asks and then realizes that Carmilla doesn’t want her to leave her side, she’s afraid to be alone right now and that breaks Laura’s heart so much that she almost bursts into tears, “You don’t want me to leave.” It wasn’t a question, but Carmilla answers it anyway with two blinks.  
“Alright, well, I’ll stay right here with you the entire time. I promise. I’ll have Perry get you some blood.” Laura says and then turns her head around to call for Perry. Perry comes running in a moment later.  
“What’s the matter Laura? Is everything alright?” Perry asks.  
“Carmilla is awake.” Laura says and Perry shifts her position to see Carmilla’s face, with her eyes open now looking at Perry.  
“Oh, hello Carmilla.” Perry says with an awkward wave and then turns back to Laura, “Is she alright? Do you need me to get you anything?”  
“She’s fine. She just needs blood, I was wondering if you could get some for me?” Laura asks.  
Perry nods and says, “Sure thing.” And then leaves the room quickly.  
Laura turns back to Carmilla, still holding her hand. She begins to rub her thumb in circles across the back of Carmilla’s hand.  
“Can you feel that?” Laura asks and Carmilla blinks twice. Laura then smiles at her and leans forward and pecks Carmilla on the lips, “Can you feel that?” Carmilla blinks twice again.  
They then spend the next several hours together, Laura telling Carmilla about what they’d discovered about the creatures psychic link and having to come up with some kind of plan. Slowly, but surely Carmilla begins to regain mobility. It starts with her head and neck first, she’s soon able to talk, though her voice is gruff. Then strangely enough she regains the use of her toes and then feet. By nine o’clock at night she’s able to stiffly move around.  
Around that time is when they all decide to gather in the living room. It’s Laura sitting on the couch next to Carmilla, who is leaning against her. LaFontaine is sitting back in the armchair, with Perry sitting on the armrest. Gwen is continuing to work in the background and Danny is sitting in one of the other chairs. There are also several other Summer Society girls around the room, sitting or standing in various positions.  
“So as many of you know now, we have a major problem. This creature, these Piercer Beetles or whatever you’d like to call them have infiltrated our campus, hurting and even murdering our friends. They’ve taken over students, key members of the campus security, and possibly even the Dean himself. But worst of all, they’ve infected nearly half the female population of this campus with their eggs and either tomorrow or the day after those eggs will hatch in an incredibly violent way.” Laura says, “We need to stop this from happening. Over the past few months my friends and I have been investigating the murders and eventually these creatures and have found a few of their weaknesses. LaFontaine if you want to take the floor.”  
LaFontaine looks up from what they’re doing and nods, “Yes, the interesting thing and also rather frustrating thing about these creatures is that they’re rather resilient. This is because they can take two forms, a solid beetle like form, and a more amorphous gooey form. The gooey form is what makes them so tough to take out because any injury or toxin they are exposed to in solid form is negated in their blob form. However, we have discovered that they have a vulnerability to heat. When exposed to temperatures above 100° C, they cannot maintain their blob form and revert to their solid form, where they react to stimuli normally. So any creature not currently taking control of a host, must be killed using heat or fire or something to that effect. Creatures that are in control of a host are a little trickier to kill without killing the host. But they do respond to pain and other external stimuli the host encounters. However, we have discovered, well we think that if we kill the Queen, it’ll kill all of the drones as well due to a psychic link they have with each other.”  
“So now, we definitely have to go after the Queen and soon.” Laura says, “But we’ve come up with a plan and we’re going to need your help, as well as the Zetas, to enact it.

End of video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting close now. Only a chapter or two left Then maybe an epilogue.


	32. The Queen

3/8/15

A large number of people are gathered in the Summer Society house, a mixture of both the Summer Society girls, the Zetas, Laura’s group, and a few unknown others who have joined them along the way. There are at least fifty people crowded into the house and they all appear to be gearing up for a battle.  
“Remember, we’re not trying to kill the hosts. So if you encounter someone being controlled by a creature, use nonlethal force if possible.” LaFontaine shouts to the group as they walk by, “We’ve handed out tasers, stun guns, and stun batons for use against such enemies. Some of you have also received flash bang grenades from Kirsch to be used on the appropriate signal. All of these items will help in incapacitating controlled enemies without doing permanent damage…hopefully.”  
“Any creatures found not attached to a host must be killed using high amounts of heat.” Perry says, “We have handed out explosive foam capsules, which will explode in a fiery burst upon impact. Be very careful with them as they are incredibly dangerous. If you run out, you may need to be a bit more creative with how you create fire, but we have handed out some flares and those of you with fireworks, you know what your job is.”  
“Some of us may have a surprise up their sleeve when it comes to that.” LaFontaine says, smirking which gets a concerned, but amused look from Perry.  
“Each team has their objectives and can communicate via walkie talkie.” Laura says, holding up her own walkie talkie, “We will radio you once we know the location of the Queen, then you will get into position.” She then turns to LaFontaine, Perry, Danny, and Carmilla, “You guys are with me. We’ll be hunting down the Queen using LaFontaine’s tracker.”  
“I’m with you guys too!” Kirsch says jogging over, bobbing up and down in excitement, “If you guys are going into the belly of the beast than so am I.”  
Danny and Carmilla groan, but Laura nods, “Alright Kirsch, you can come with us.”  
“Yes!” He says pumping his fist into the air.  
Laura then turns to Gwen who is still working on the injections in the back, “Gwen?”  
“I’ll be ready…soon.” Gwen says nervously.  
“But not now?” Carmilla asks.  
“No…not now.” Gwen says, “I’ll…I’ll catch up with you guys when this is done. You know, last minute save the day kind of thing. I swear, it’ll be ready in time. I promise.”  
Laura nods, “Alright, meet up with us when you can.”  
“Take this.” LaFontaine says handing Gwen a small remote of some kind, “Its linked to the school’s controls, like lights, temperature, that kind of stuff. I was going to do it, but if you’re here it’s probably better if you do it. I have a feeling we’re all going to be otherwise occupied.”  
“So you want me to turn up the heat?” Gwen asks, “It won’t get hot enough for the creatures to be forced out.”  
“I know, but it’ll hopefully slow them down.” LaFontaine says, “Plus it also controls things like the fire sprinklers.”  
“Am I going to need to turn on the fire sprinklers?” Gwen asks with a smirk.  
LaFontaine gives a smirk and then a shrug, “Probably.”  
“Alright everyone!” Laura says to the assembled group, “My team is going to move out in about five minutes. The rest of you get ready. We don’t know what’s in store for us or how much the Queen knows about our operation, but we already know this isn’t going to be an easy fight. The Queen has at least thirty people currently under her control, if not more. But we can do this. We are prepared, we have a plan, and we have resolve. We are doing this for Martina, Naomi, and Gerdy, we are doing this for the Dryads in the forest, we are doing this for our fellow students, for our friends, and for ourselves. Remember, we took on an elder god; we can take on a puny Queen. So everyone, hands in and on three shout…”  
“Cupcake!” Carmilla says and everyone puts their hands in.  
“One, two, three…” Laura begins, “CUPCAKE!” They all shout.  
Laura then turns to Carmilla, “Cupcake? Really?”  
Carmilla smirks, “I thought it was appropriate.”  
“Alright, my team, with me. Everyone else, get ready.” Laura says and they move out.

Five minutes later

Laura’s phone camera flicks on and it appears its strapped to her shoulder. They’re standing outside the Summer Society house waiting for LaFontaine to return.  
“What in the world are they doing in there?” Perry asks tapping their foot, “They are making me nervous.”  
“They said they were getting something important and they’ll be right back.” Laura says, “We can wait the extra few minutes.”  
They hear footsteps, someone bumping into something, a curse, and then LaFontaine flies out the door with a huge, rectangular backpack strapped to their back.  
Carmilla raises an eyebrow, “What are you going to be doing with that?”  
“Busting some ghosts?” Laura asks with a smirk.  
LaFontaine returns Laura’s smile, but shakes their head, “You’ll see.”  
Perry looks at the backpack and the hose and nozzle attached to it and frowns, “If that is what I think it is, LaFontaine, so help me…”  
“Well…it probably is….” LaFontaine says.  
Perry just shakes her head, “Just don’t kill yourself.”  
“Wasn’t planning on.” LaFontaine replies and gives Perry a peck on the cheek, “So we ready to do this or what?”  
“Let’s go.” Laura says and LaFontaine turns on the tracker. It beeps really loudly all of a sudden, startling everyone, but then it slowly dies down to a moderate tone.  
“That thing is going to be the death of me…again.” Carmilla mutters and Laura laughs.  
LaFontaine starts smacking it and Laura looks at them concerned, “Is something wrong?”  
“I’m getting a lot of weird interference. It’s like the signal is coming from multiple places at once and its having trouble pinpointing which one is the greatest.”  
“What does it do again?” Kirsch asks.  
“It tracks the creature’s telepathic communications and I’ve set it so that it leads us to wherever it is the greatest, which should be the Queen.” LaFontaine says.  
“Should be?” Danny asks, “You’re saying it might not be.”  
“Well…if there is a lot of them in one place that could trick the sensors into thinking it was the Queen.” LaFontaine says, “But you’d need at least fifty of them in one place for that to happen.”  
“So what is it saying now?” Laura asks, “Where are we supposed to go?”  
“I don’t know yet, I don’t know why it’s…hold on…there was strange spiking of the frequency for a second.” LaFontaine says shaking their head, “That’s odd.”  
“What’s odd?” Perry asks.  
“It said for a second…wait…no…never mind, it looks like it was calibrating.” LaFontaine says, “Okay, it’s fixing itself. Yeah, okay, it looks like the Queen is in the…administrative offices?”  
“Administrative offices?” Laura repeats, “Oh no.”  
“Oh no, what?” Danny asks.  
“The Dean. That’s where the Dean’s office is.” Laura says, “You don’t think…”  
“I mean he has always given us the heebie jeebies.” LaFontaine says.  
“And what better way to get to the student population than as the Dean.” Danny says.  
“He even was in charge of all those soldier guys.” Perry says, “So the investigation was always rigged.”  
“So, it’s been the Dean, the entire time.” Laura says shaking her head, “I can’t believe we didn’t see it before. He was probably the one who attacked us right after Naomi died.”  
“He probably instigated the feud between the students and the Dryads so they wouldn’t interfere.” Danny says.  
“And there just so happened to be a demon uprising on the day of our snowball fight.” Laura says.  
“And when that didn’t work, he decided to implicate Phil to turn us down the wrong path.” LaFotnaine says, “I always wondered why Phil’s skin burned when he was human. It never made sense.”  
“And then when we were getting too close with the capsaicin injections and the tracker, he moved in.” Laura says.   
“That’s majorly messed up.” Kirsch says.  
Laura nods, “Alright everyone, let’s go get this guy…or gal cause it’s a Queen.”  
They begin walking and they’re going for about fifteen minutes when Laura notices Carmilla is frowning.   
“Hey, are you alright?” Laura asks, “You’re not still feeling bad from the toxin are you?”  
Carmilla looks up at her as she pulls herself from her thoughts, “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. No, I don’t feel anything from the toxin anymore, I’m back to myself.”  
“Then what’s with the face?” Laura asks.  
“I don’t know…something seems off about this.” Carmilla says.  
“Off how?” Laura asks.  
“I don’t know.” Carmilla says, “I feel like we’re missing something.”  
“Missing something? Like what?” Laura asks.  
Carmilla shrugs, “I’m not sure.”  
“Okay guys, we’re here.” LaFontaine says, pointing to the administrative offices, “It’s coming from inside.”  
They begin their trek inside and through the hallways before LaFontaine frowns and says, “Huh, wait, it’s moving.”  
“What’s moving?” Laura asks.  
“The signal. It was coming from down at the end of this hallway, but now it’s moving away from us.” LaFontaine says and looks around the corner to the end of the hallway, “That’s the Dean’s office and the door is open. No one is there guarding it.”  
Laura peers around the corner as well, “Hmm, we should go check it out.”  
“Is the signal still moving away from us?” Danny asks.  
“Yes, in a way it shouldn’t be. There’s no hallways or anything that way.” LaFontaine says.  
“Unless…” Carmilla begins, “You and Danny were tracking the Dean one time and you said he just disappeared. Maybe there’s a hidden entrance here.”  
Laura nods, “Come on, this way.”  
They continue down the hallway and make their way towards the Dean’s office, before they enter though Danny spots an open door down a side hallway, “What’s that?”  
They turn and look to see that it’s not in fact a door, but part of the wall that has been opened up.   
“A secret passage, alright!” Kirsch says a little too loudly and they shush him.  
“He…she knows we’re coming.” Laura says, “She’s running from us.”  
“Let’s go guys, we got her on the ropes.” LaFontaine says.  
They head into the passageway one at a time, with Carmilla in front and Kirsch taking up the rear.  
The passageway is dark, barely lit, and damp with water seeping in through very old, cracked stones. It also is angled downward, appearing to be heading underground.  
It eventually levels off though and begins to twist and turn at seemingly random places.   
“Where the hell is this taking us?” Laura asks.  
LaFontaine looks down and then goes a shade paler, “The library, it’s taking us to the library.”  
Everyone in the passageway feels a sense of dread wash over them, but they continue to move. Laura pulls out the walkie talkie and speaks, “Teams, the Queen is headed for the library, I repeat the Queen is headed for the library. Move into position.” A quick roger is heard in reply.  
They continue on and eventually the passageway straightens out and starts heading up. They begin to see light coming from up ahead.  
“Is the Queen still moving?” Laura asks.  
LaFontaine shakes their head, “No, she’s stopped inside the library. She’s close.”  
“I don’t like this.” Carmilla says, but they continue to move forward anyway.  
The reach the end of the passageway and move out into the library. They’re in a large room filled with rows and rows of bookshelves. In the center is a large open area where tables, chairs, desks, and couches usually are for students to study or hang out. Instead, they’ve been pushed aside, leaving the area mostly open.  
And standing in the center of it all is the Dean, dressed in fine black suit, and still wearing sunglasses inside. He gives them a sinister sneer.  
“Hello everyone.” He says in a rather chipper tone, “How is everyone doing this evening? What brings you all here tonight?” He takes off his sunglasses and begins to wipe them with a rag from his pocket. They see that his eyes are an icy blue. He then places his sunglasses back on.  
Laura has a determined look on her face when she says, “We’re here to take you down.”  
“Take me down? Whatever for?” The Dean asks.  
“Because you’re the Queen of a hive of piercer beetles and you’ve murdered several girls and infected thousands more!” Laura shouts back and pulls out a taser and points it at him.  
“The Queen?” The Dean says, “Well I am flattered that you would think that, but I’m afraid I’m not the Queen Miss Hollis.”  
“You’re not?” Laura asks confused, “But…”  
There’s suddenly a loud beeping coming from the tracker which startles everyone, including LaFontaine, “Whoa! There was a weird spike again and…this makes no sense…it says the Queen is now behind us, but…”  
There’s a yelp and they all whip around to see Kirsch, with an arm wrapped around Perry’s neck and a knife pressed to her throat.  
He has a sinister smile on his face as he looks at all of them and looks very, un-Kirsch like.  
“Well, I guess the truth is out now.” Kirsch says in a harsh tone, “You should really bow before royalty.” They all look at him blankly.

End of video


	33. The Fight

3/8/15

 

“Kirsch…what are you doing?” Danny asks, still not quite accepting what she’s seeing. She takes a step forward.  
Kirsch tightens his grip on Perry who yelps again and he shakes his head, “Why don’t you all stay right where you are and little Lola here doesn’t have to bleed out all over this nice floor.”  
“Kirsch…I don’t understand what…” Laura begins and then realization finally dawns on her, “What? You’re the Queen?”  
Kirsch looks to Laura with a patronizing smile, “Yes Laura, I am. I’ve been right under your nose the whole time. Because who would suspect, poor dopey puppy dog Kirsch? The answer is no one.”  
“But…but you were helping us…you helped us the whole time!” Laura shouts.  
“Did I really?” Kirsch says and then jerks his arm tighter as Carmilla takes a threatening step forward, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you Carm sexy. I know you’re a super strong badass vampire, but do you really think you could get to me before I jam this knife into Perry’s throat? Do you really want to risk it?” Carmilla takes a step back and Kirsch smiles at her, “That’s what I thought.”  
“This…I can’t…” Laura begins.  
“The tracker, why didn’t the tracker pick you up?” LaFontaine asks while nervously shooting worried glances at Perry.  
“Like you said, it can be tricked with enough creatures in one place.” Kirsch says and then looks past them all and into the library, “You can all come out now!” They can hear many footsteps and they turn around to see about one hundred people emerging from the stacks. The people surround the small group.  
“Where did all these people come from?” Laura asks.  
“Well, you saw the remains of the Dryads, so some of my babies are from those. But you didn’t find the naiads. The benefit to creatures like that is there is typically no remains, they just sort of puddle away. And then a few townsfolk sacrificed their lives here and there where I could and tada! A small army.” Kirsch tells them.  
“I can’t believe it.” Laura says.  
“Believe it little Laura.” Kirsch says, “I hope those cupcakes I passed around were delicious because they had a little bit of me inside of them.”  
Laura gags and says, “Ugh, you’ve just ruined cupcakes for me…forever. This is insane. How did we miss it?”  
“You were so close too, well not close, but right about certain things. I did attack you after Naomi died and steal the ooze. I did instigate the war between the students and the forest folk. I did implicate Phil and lead you down the wrong path.” Kirsch says, “Concentrated hydrochloric acid can leave some nasty looking burns.”  
“So that’s why Phil’s skin burned!” LaFontaine shouts, “You swapped out the snowballs.”  
Kirsch smirks, “I did. Poor Phil had no idea.”  
“And the demons?” Laura asks.  
Kirsch laughs, “Oh yes, Friday the 13th, that wasn’t actually me, but it was fun nonetheless. Although I may have pointed a big bad demon in the right direction towards one Danny Lawrence. You getting severely injured or better yet, killed would have been the perfect distraction for this little dimwit squad you have here.” He smiles at Danny, “How was I supposed to know your fleabag of a girlfriend would get in the way?” Danny twitches, her fists clenching, and she takes a step forward, but hesitates when she sees the knife to Perry’s throat.   
Kirsch laughs and its cold and harsh, “It doesn’t matter, it worked all the same. For a time. But I do have to hand it to you, you are a persistent bunch. Nothing seemed to dissuade you from your mission. So I had to suggest to Phil that you might be in possession of one of my babies. That was tricky because I wasn’t supposed to know you had it and I couldn’t look like I was turning you over. But I managed to plant some ideas in his mind about strange noises and experiments coming from your room. The rest he worked out on his own. Which was good because you were so very close to catching me with your tracker and I wasn’t ready yet.” Kirsch says, “But yes, I was there the whole time, listening into your conversations and plans, knowing what you were going to do next so that I was able to stay one step ahead of you the entire time. And then once you had captured my baby who you had nicknamed Zany, I didn’t need to be there in person anymore, he spied for me. Isn’t that right Zany?”  
“That’s right.” Phil says stepping forward out of the crowd.  
“I thought it was fitting that Zany should be the one to control Phil, considering everything that happened.” Kirsch says, “Poetic justice, if you will.”  
“So, what now? What do you want from us?” Danny asks.  
“I don’t want anything from you in particular.” Kirsch says, “I want my babies to hatch and all I have to do is wait a few minutes and I’ll have thousands more offspring to assist me and a whole campus full of potential hosts.”  
There is the sound of static and then over Laura’s radio, “We’re in position. Tell us when to move in.”  
Kirsch laughs, “Ah and your little army of Zeta Bros and Summer Psychos as Kirsch would say. How very amusing.” He then turns to his drones, “You lot, yes, all of you, except these twenty right here, take care of the children outside. You twenty, help me chain these ladies up, we’ll just wait this out right here.” The eighty or so people move to head outside, while the twenty left over close in.   
Kirsch makes a move to step forward with Perry, but Perry shakes her head and then elbows him in the face. He reels back and then she grabs his forearm with both of her hands and flips him over her body so that he lands on his back with a loud thud.  
“That’s for destroying our room!” Perry shouts and then adds, “And for murdering those girls!”  
Then several things happen at once. Carmilla moves to take out Kirsch, but is tackled to the ground by eight of the controlled. Laura fires her taser at one of the people running at her while simultaneously screaming into the radio, “They’re coming out to meet you! Get in position! Get in position! Gwen! Turn up the heat! And we could use that injection stuff right about now!”  
“Roger, roger.” Gwen says, “And…I’m working on it. Almost done, I swear.”  
Danny fires her taser, hitting someone right in the chest. They go down and she pulls out two electrified batons which she precedes to use on the five surrounding her in a complex series of strikes and blocks, as they attempt to overwhelm her.  
LaFontaine shoots their taser and nails one guy in the leg. They then pull out a stun gun and leap onto another guy’s back and stunning him right in the neck.  
Perry prods Kirsch with her own baton before firing off her taser at a controlled running at her.  
Laura dodges the prongs of a taser and then faces off against two controlled who attack her. She pulls out her stun baton, charging it up as the two controlled begin to circle her, one holding his own stun baton, the other a piece of rebar. The one with the stun baton swings first, aiming for Laura’s head. She ducks and sweeps her baton low at his legs, striking him in the knee. His whole leg spasms and he collapses down onto one knee. The other controlled takes a swing at her while she’s low, but she blocks his overhead strike with her baton and then charges it up, the electrical current traveling through the metal and into the controlled’s arm. His arm spasms and he drops the rebar. She then quickly spins away from him and strikes out against his other side, hitting him at the hip. He yelps and falls down to his knees. She then strikes out again, hitting him on the shoulder, arm, and then jabbing him once in the chest in quick succession until he falls to the floor.  
Laura whips her head around towards the doors as shouting, explosions, and the sounds of fighting comes from outside. She can hear the distinctive thunderous boom of the flash bangs out in the hallway and several cries of surprise and pain.   
Her attention is diverted back towards the fighting inside the room as the one with the stun baton gets back to his feet and swings it at her. She bats aside his attack and hits his now open chest. He drops like a rock. She suddenly hears something charging up behind her, but before she can react she feels a pulsating, tingling sensation, and then her right arm holding the stun baton locks up. She lets it go, dropping it to the ground as her right arm then flops to her side, useless. She spins around to see two more controlled coming at her, one with a stun baton that he just used on her.   
She backs up slowly, her left arm clutching her numb right arm as she watch the two controlled inch closer towards her. The one with the baton takes a swing at her in a downward arching motion, but she dodges his blow, leaping forward and to the right, getting in between his body and the baton and driving her left knee into his gut.   
The second guy charges her and she dodges his charge, leaping to the side as he barrels by her. She’s beginning to get feeling back in her right arm, flexing it and shaking it out to make sure it’s alright. She then raises both her arms and gets into a fighting stance as the two controlled face off against her again.   
The guy with the baton attacks her first again, with the other guy close behind. The baton comes swinging low this time towards her left side. She leaps forward, raising her left leg to block against his forearm, halting his arm mid-swing. She then wraps her left arm around his baton wielding arm, locking it in place, and elbows him in the face with her right arm. She then knees him in the groin with her right leg and wrenches the baton from his grasp. She spins away from him smoothly as he collapses to the ground and then blocks the second guys punch with her baton, causing a jolt of electricity to run through his arm, locking it up. She then whips the baton across his face and he goes down.  
All of this happens in under a two minutes.  
They suddenly hear more shouting and explosions coming from outside the doors. There’s also the distinctive sound of whistling and popping of fireworks. Then, several Summer Society girls coming running in through the doors firing arrows with firecrackers tied to the ends of them into the hallway behind them.   
“They’re coming!” One of them shouts to the group.  
“Who?” Laura shouts as she smashes another guy in the face with a baton.   
They hear Kirsch laughing from on the ground, “I guess the lab animals went first.” He coughs out.  
There’s a high pitched keening noise and then hundreds of the beetles coming racing through the doorway and into the room. The Summer Society girls are firing arrows tipped with fireworks rapidly at them, causing shorts bursts of colorful explosions and dying creatures, but it isn’t enough. And the creatures soon begin to overwhelm them as they retreat back towards Laura and the others.  
“What do we do?” One of them asks, still firing arrows, “There are too many!”  
LaFontaine then gets a huge grin on their face and flicks a switch on the backpack their wearing, it hums to life, “Now it’s my time to shine.” Their face is almost deranged as they pull out the hose with the nozzle on the end and point it at the wave of creatures rushing at them, “Everyone, move away!” They shout and everyone backs up far behind LaFontaine as they step forward.  
They then press a switch and at first just green foam splutters out, then suddenly there’s a clicking noise like the lighting of a grill, and the foam ignites into a white hot stream of fire.   
LaFontaine cackles as they spray the fire at the oncoming creatures who don’t have time to realize what’s happening and run right into the inferno, burning up instantly.   
“Burn babies burn!” LaFontaine shouts as they continue to step forward to scorch the creatures, especially those that are now fleeing.  
The fight from outside now spills inside as the two sides duel with electrified batons, stun guns, tasers, and flash bang grenades, with no clear victor on either side. The fire begins to rage out of control inside the library and the heat has increased exponentially, seemingly slowing down the reaction times of the controlled.  
Laura fires another taser, hitting one of the controlled attacking Carmilla, which is enough to allow Carmilla to break free of their grasps. She then takes them out in a blur of movement and then her eyes lock on Kirsch. He spots her and sneers.  
She races towards him, grabs him by the throat, and slams him up against the wall, “You’re mine, Queenie.” She snarls.  
“You won’t kill me, not while I’m in control of the puppy.” Kirsch says through an aching windpipe.  
“You overestimate my attachment to this meat sack.” Carmilla replies.  
“If you were going to kill me, you would have done so already.” Kirsch counters with a smirk, “But you can’t.”  
“Maybe not, but I can hold you here until Gwen finishes the capsaicin.” Carmilla tells him smiling back, “And then we’ll see how you fare once you’re outside of this lumbering hulk of muscle.”   
“Can you really wait that long?” Kirsch says and then nods to something behind Carmilla. Carmilla suddenly hears several cries behind her and turns to see many of the girls, including Laura, collapse to their knees clutching their stomachs.  
“Laura!” Carmilla shouts, and hesitates to release Kirsch to run to her.  
“You’ve maybe got minutes left with your love, you might want to spend that time with her.” Kirsch wheezes.  
Carmilla turns and tightens her grip on Kirsch’s neck, “If it’s a choice between her life and yours, I choose hers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the fact that Laura can do Krav Maga, it makes it so I can have her in the middle of a fight and hold her own. If you want to see what one of the moves she uses looks like when one of the controlled is coming at her with a baton you can check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=42&v=nGrcBGAKAqE  
> Krav Maga is a very cool style of self defense.


	34. The Conclusion

3/8/15

Carmilla makes a move to break his neck, but Laura cries out once more, this time to Carmilla, causing Carmilla to hesitate.  
“No! Carm! Wait! Wait a little longer! We have to give Gwen a chance!” Laura says through gritted teeth.  
“Laura, I can’t wait for her any longer! You’re dying! If you die…I don’t know what I would do!” Carmilla shouts at her.  
“Just wait.” Laura says and then cries out in pain again, “Wait a few more minutes.”  
There’s a crackling through the radio and then Gwen’s voice comes through, she’s sounds like she’s in pain though “I’m…done. I’m on my way right now!”  
“See.” Laura says weekly and Carmilla looks back at her concerned.   
While she’s distracted Kirsch quickly pulls out a syringe and pressed it to Carmilla’s neck, “Fine then, I was hoping not to have to resort to this.”  
Carmilla freezes, “What is that?”  
“You know what it is.” Kirsch says, “And it’s definitely enough to kill you instantly. So you’re going to let me go or this is going right into your carotid.”  
Carmilla tenses up, thinking hard. The Queen watches her face and frowns, “Don’t be stupid. I don’t want to kill you. You’d make an excellent host. Just let me go right now.”  
Carmilla is frozen, torn between saving her own life and Laura’s, but in that moment she knows there is no choice. She would choose Laura’s life over her own a million times over. She’d already sacrificed her own life on Laura’s behalf not even half a year ago and she knows she would do it again in a heartbeat (even if she lacked one).   
She locks eyes with The Queen again and gets a resolved look on her face. The Queen’s eyes go wide as she realizes what Carmilla is about to do.   
But before either of them can make a move to kill each other, two taser probes suddenly appear in Kirsch’s arm holding the syringe and a jolt goes up his body. Carmilla backs away fast enough before he can attempt to inject her, but she doesn’t have to worry, his muscles are so tense he couldn’t move if he wanted to. He collapses to the ground in a convulsing heap and Carmilla turns around to see Laura, lying on the ground, clutching her stomach, with her taser pointed at Kirsch, the wires connected to his arm.  
Carmilla looks at Laura stunned and then says, “Nice shot.”  
“I was aiming for his head.” Laura says with a pained smirk and Carmilla frowns as she feels like she’s heard that somewhere before.  
“You’re dying and you’re making references? That’s what’s happening right now?” Carmilla asks incredulous, “And what was that?” She says gesturing towards the taser, “You could have hit me instead.”  
Laura gives a pained chuckle, “Well, I didn’t did I? Besides, I didn’t want you to get any stupid heroic vampire ideas.” And in that moment Carmilla can’t do much besides laugh.  
Laura then cries out in agony again, her fingers scrabbling against her stomach. Carmilla rushes to her side, unsure of what to do, still tempted to run over and kill the meathead.  
There’s a crackling over the radio and Gwen gasps out, “I’m…almost…there…can’t…I can’t…make it…”  
If Carmilla’s blood could run cold, it would have in that moment. Then she hears Danny call her name.  
“I got this bloodsucker.” Danny says as she sprints for the door, “You do what you have to if it comes to it.”  
Carmilla locks eyes with Danny and nods, “You have two minutes.” Danny then runs faster than she ever has before.  
Carmilla turns back to Laura who is lying on the ground, breathing hard. She takes Laura’s head and places it in her lap and begins to stroke her hair, “It’ll be okay Laura, it will.” She looks around the room to see Perry tending to LaFontaine who is lying in a similar position, as are many of the Summer Society girls. The fight is mostly over, with the Zetas and Summer Society girls winning out over the controlled, but it doesn’t feel like a victory as many are lying across the ground in various states of agony.   
Laura cries out again and Carmilla holds her close, closing her eyes and feeling completely helpless. Carmilla then looks at the watch on Laura’s arm and watches the seconds tick by as the two minutes approach. At one minute and thirty seconds she gets up and walks back over Kirsch who is slowly getting up. She grabs him by the throat again and slams him up against the wall.  
She locks eyes with him and he almost looks afraid, she then sighs and says, “I’m sorry.”  
Before she can do it though Danny bursts through the doors at full sprint and rushes towards her, “I have it!” She tosses the syringe to Carmilla who catches it and then jams it into Kirsch’s neck in one swift movement.   
There’s several seconds of nothing, which to Carmilla seem to last a lifetime and then Kirsch begins to convulse. His eyes roll back into his head and foam forms in his mouth. And then he goes slack in Carmilla’s hands, with Carmilla propping him up. There’s a screeching noise and then suddenly ooze begins to drip out of Kirsch’s ear and then splatters onto the floor.   
Carmilla drops Kirsch and goes to grab for it, but it dodges away and forms into beetle form, scrambling for the door.   
“Get it!” Carmilla shouts at Danny who is standing by the doorway. Danny sees the creature and grabs a sword out of one of the suits of armor on display by the door and stabs the creature straight through, skewering it.   
Danny smirks as she looks at Carmilla and says, “You owe me fifty bucks.” But her smile fades as the creature turns to blob form and lunges at her face. Carmilla focuses on it though and it bursts into a ball of flame, letting out an anguished cry as it turns to ash, the ash splashing across Danny’s face as it combusts inches from her.   
“What were you saying?” Carmilla asks and Danny scowls, wiping soot and grime from her eyes.   
There are several more high pitched cries that can be heard throughout the room and people all around begin to convulse.  
Carmilla rushes to Laura’s side as she begins to shake and holds her hand, unsure of what to do.  
“Were we too late?” Danny asks panicked.  
The convulsing slowly subsides as Laura goes limp in Carmilla’s arms and Carmilla feels panic rise in her chest once again.   
“Laura?” Carmilla says, it coming out as a question. Her voice is quiet and unsure. She’s never felt so afraid in all her life. Laura doesn’t respond and Carmilla feels tears welling up in her eyes. She can hear Danny moving up behind her hesitantly, but not interfering.  
Carmilla leans forward and says again, “Laura…” She trails off her voice becoming choked at the end as her throat closes up. She can’t hear a heartbeat in Laura’s chest. She can’t hear the sound of her soft breathing. The thought of a future without Laura begins to overwhelm her and she feels tears begin to fall down her face. This is too much. She can’t go through this again. She can’t lose someone else that she held so dear. She can’t lose another love.   
She feels herself crumbling inward, the world around her growing instantly dimmer. She can’t even think or feel at this point, she’s so numb. She barely registers anything around her. The only thing she sees is Laura’s placid face, eyes closed. She could be sleeping. She can almost hear the contented sounds she makes while she lies by Carmilla’s side back in their dorm room. She can almost see the slightly scrunched face and fluttering of the eyelids, as if she were having a particularly vivid dream.   
Wait, Carmilla thinks, she thought she did see a flutter of the eyelids. At first she thought it was just wishful thinking, but then she realized she could hear a heartbeat in Laura’s chest, she could hear breathing coming from her again. She looked back at Laura’s face hopeful and saw her eyelids flutter.   
“Laura.” She says, almost as a whisper, too afraid to even hope at this point. If Carmilla could hold her breath, she would be holding it right now.  
Laura’s eyelids fluttered open and she blinked a few times as she adjusted to the light and being awake. Her eyes searched confused until she spotted Carmilla leaning over her. Laura let an easy, somewhat dazed smile cross her face.  
“Carmilla.” She says with a satisfied sigh.  
Carmilla lets out a choked sob and almost loses it right there, “Laura.” She manages to get out.  
Laura’s smile quickly turns to a frown as she reaches a hand up to brush away Carmilla’s tears, “Hey, what’s the matter? Are you okay?”  
Carmilla shakes her head up and down in an emphatic yes, “I thought I’d lost you, but I’m okay now that you’re here. You’re back. I’m more than okay. I’m the best I’ve ever been.”  
“Back? I didn’t go anywhere did I?” Laura asks confused.  
“You did. But that’s okay, you’re back again.” Carmilla says and shakes her head back and forth now, “But don’t ever do that to me again, okay?”  
Laura, still a bit groggy, begins to realize what Carmilla meant by ‘lost’, and then her eyes widen, “Oh.” She wraps her arms around Carmilla in a sudden and powerful hug, “I’m not going anywhere. I promise. As long as you don’t go anywhere either.”  
Carmilla hugs her back tightly, like she’s a lifeline, afraid that letting her go would mean that this wasn’t real.   
“I promise, I won’t go anywhere.” Carmilla says and after a long and somewhat tear filled embrace, they finally let go of one another and look each other in the eyes again. Laura smiles a beaming smile at Carmilla and Carmilla can’t help, but smile back.   
Carmilla then frowns and looks Laura over. “Laura, are you alright?” Carmilla asks anxiously.  
Laura gives her a huge grin and says, “I’m fine.” Laura’s smile then widens and she says, “We did it!”  
Carmilla than wraps Laura up in a tight hug, “I’m glad you’re okay.”  
They hug for a few moments more before Laura attempts to get to her feet and Carmilla helps her up. Laura looks around the room and the disaster they’ve made it and can’t help, but laugh. She sees Perry helping LaFontaine to their feet and several of the Zetas and Summer Society girls helping other recovering people to their own. Danny is nowhere to be seen, so they can only assume she went to go check on Gwen.  
The fire in the room is still spreading though until the sprinklers in the room go off, dousing everyone in water and putting out the flames.  
“I see the remote I gave Gwen worked.” LaFontaine says as they stare up at the sprinklers while leaning into Perry’s side.  
“That probably means she’s okay.” Laura says with relief.  
“So…we did it!” LaFontaine shouts, clapping their hands together and then slapping Laura on the back forcefully enough to get her to stumble forward.  
“We did! And we’re all okay!” Laura shouts back and everyone has huge grins on their faces. They can’t believe they did it and all made it out alive.   
“Wait…what about Kirsch?” Perry asks and they all turn to see Kirsch lying face down on the ground. They all rush over to him to see if he’s alright. LaFontaine checks his pulse and breathing.  
“Well he’s alive.” LaFontaine says, “But beyond that, I don’t know.”  
They hear a soft moan and Laura says, “Here, help me roll him over onto his back.” Carmilla helps roll Kirsch over and his eyes begin to flutter. A moment later his eyes open and he stares at all of them looking down at him. He blinks a few times.  
“Kirsch?” Perry asks, “Honey?”  
Kirsch blinks a few more times and then scrunches up his face. He opens his mouth a few times as if to speak and then his eyes widen in surprise. A huge grin then forms on his face and he says, “I’m me again! I can move!” He lifts up his hand awkwardly and stares at it. He wiggles his fingers for added effect, “You guys! You saved me! I can’t believe it! I thought I’d be stuck like that forever!”  
“Can you stand up?” Laura asks.  
Kirsch shrugs and then attempts to get up, Carmilla grabs his arm and helps him to his feet. Once standing he clutches his head, “Whoa, head rush.”  
“How do you feel?” LaFontaine asks.  
Kirsch winces as he moves, “Ouch, whoa. Did I get burned?”  
“Must be the capsaicin wearing off.” LaFontaine comments.  
“The what now?” Kirsch asks, “What did you bros do?”  
“It’s alright Kirsch, you’re going to be fine.” Laura says, “He is going to be fine right?”  
“Oh yeah, totally.” LaFontaine says and then hesitates, “I think.”  
“Whatever, it’s still better than that nasty thing inside me.” Kirsch says.  
“Yeah, I bet.” Laura says.  
Kirsch nods, “Thanks guys, for like, saving me, and for…LOOK OUT!” He shouts pointing behind him.  
They all turn, but it isn’t fast enough as Phil with the syringe full of the toxin lunges for Carmilla. The needle just brushes against her skin without breaking it as they hear a growl and suddenly Phil is yanked backwards. They manage to turn all the way around to see the tatters of Phil’s shirt clenched in Gwen’s huge wolf jaws and him lying unconscious on the ground. If it was possible for a wolf to look smug, the face Gwen was making at that moment was exactly that.  
“Holy crap.” LaFontaine says, “That was fucking close.”  
Laura’s heart is beating out of control and she clutches Carmilla to her closer. She closes her eyes and buries her face in to Carmilla’s shoulder, trying to block out the rush of terrible thoughts that were racing through her mind. She felt Carmilla’s arm wrap around her shoulders, but Carmilla herself just stood staring at the needle that had been less than millimeters away from killing her.  
“What just happened?” Perry asked, “Why did he just attack us?”  
Danny rushes over to them from where she was coordinating with the other Summer Society girls, “Sorry guys, some of the creatures are taking longer to die off than others. We’re thinking the longer they were alive, the longer they last after the Queen dies. A few of the others are still under the creature’s control, but they’re all slowly dying off.”  
“Well fucking get them under control!” Carmilla shouts, shaking now, but while the others think it’s anger, Laura knows it’s from fear. Laura can tell what just happened really rattled her. She holds Carmilla even closer and she can feel Carmilla relax into her touch.  
“I said I was sorry.” Danny says not realizing what just happened.  
“Yeah, well sorry isn’t going to cut it Giganta. That thing almost killed me!” Carmilla yells out, “If it wasn’t for your stupid girlfriend, I would be dead right now!”  
Gwen shifts back into her human form, the piece of shirt still stuck in her teeth. She’s grinning as she removes it, “What was that Carmilla? I didn’t quite hear you?” She says as she puts her hand up to her ear.  
Carmilla scowls, “Fuck off.”  
“Well that isn’t very polite, especially towards someone who just saved your life.” Gwen says, a smirk playing across her lips.  
Carmilla looks Gwen dead in the eyes and says, “I said fuck off you mangy mutt.”  
Gwen is about to respond with a vicious retort, when she sees the fear in Carmilla’s eyes, fear that she is masking behind anger. She suddenly feels bad for taunting her.  
Danny on the other hand, doesn’t notice and says, “What did you just say to her?”  
Carmilla turns to Danny now, “I told the mangy mutt to fuck off. And you can fuck right off too Jolly Red, cause I am in no mood to deal with your mistakes right now.”  
Danny looks about ready to throttle Carmilla and she opens her mouth to respond when Gwen puts a hand on Danny’s arm to stop her.  
Laura turns to Carmilla frowning, “Carm, that’s enough. We’re safe. We’re both alive and safe. Everyone is okay. Let’s stop fighting and celebrate the fact that we made it. All of us.”  
Carmilla looks into Laura’s eyes and feels her fears wash away as peace replaces it. She takes a deep breath, even though she doesn’t need it, and lets it out slowly. She feels her nerves calm.  
Carmilla nods, “Yeah, sorry Cupcake I just…I was this close to losing it all. It’s put me a little on edge.”  
“Understandable.” Laura replies and pecks Carmilla on the cheek, “But let’s try not to take it out on others, okay?” She gives Carmilla gentle smile.  
Carmilla sighs, “I’ll try, but I make no promises.” She adds a smile at the end.  
“That’s all I ask.” Laura replies.  
Carmilla then begrudgingly turns to Gwen and mutters, “Thank you.” It’s almost too quiet to hear, but Gwen hears it.  
“You’re welcome.” Gwen replies.  
“So, what do you guys want to do now?” LaFontaine asks.  
“I’m starving.” Kirsch says, “Do you guys want to grab something to eat?”  
They all nod and Danny says, “I could go for some food.”  
“Me too.” Laura says and Carmilla shrugs.  
“I go where she goes.” Carmilla says.  
“Food would be nice.” Perry says.  
“Yeah, agreed.” LaFontaine says.  
“Cool, guys. You want to like head over to the nearby diner?” Kirsch asks and they all nod, “Sweet.”  
“What about all this?” Perry asks gesturing the destroyed room and those few still being controlled.  
“Oh, my Summer Society Sisters are on it.” Danny says, “They’ll take care of it.”  
“As will my Zeta Bros.” Kirsch says, “Probably better than the Summer Psychos.”  
‘What was that?” Danny asks with a glower.  
“Nothing.” Kirsch replies with a fake smile.  
“I thought so.” Danny grumbles.  
They all begin to leave the room, chatting.  
“So wait, Perr, I’ve been meaning to ask, where the heck did you learn how to do that flip thing?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Oh…Laura’s been teaching me Krav Maga.” Perry says, “I figured with everything we encounter on a regular basis, some basic fighting skills might be good to have. That isn’t bad is it?”  
LaFontaine grins, “Bad? No way! It’s awesome. You were totally a badass!”  
Perry grins back at them, “Really?”  
“Yeah, you totally nailed Kirsch in the face.” LaFontaine says with a laugh, which they turn into a cough when Kirsch looks over at them.  
“Dude, that’s why my face hurts so bad.” He rubs his face and then turns to Perry, “Did you really hit me in the face?”  
“Oh I’m sorry Kirsch.” Perry says, patting him on the arm soothingly, “But to be fair, you did have a knife to my throat.”  
“Oh no way! I am so sorry.” Kirsch says frowning.  
“Kirsch, you don’t have to apologize for anything you did while controlled by that thing.” Laura says.  
“Alright.” Kirsch says and rubs the back of his neck, “Thanks for saving my life.”  
“You already said thank you.” LaFontaine says.  
“I thought I should say it again.” Kirsch says.  
“Speaking of saving lives, thanks for saving mine.” Gwen says to Danny with a smile.  
“Well, you’ve saved mine; I thought it was my turn to return the favor. Now we’re even.” She smiles back. They link hands as they walk.  
Gwen thinks for a moment and then says, “Well, actually I saved your life twice so you still owe me one.”  
“What?” Danny says shocked, “Really? We’re keeping score?”  
“We always keep score.” Gwen says with a laugh.  
Danny thinks for a moment and then says, “No, wait, I saved your life twice.”  
“What? When?” Gwen asks.  
“I stopped Carmilla from killing you.” Danny says proudly.  
“What? That doesn’t count.” Gwen says.  
“It totally counts.” Danny replies.  
“You guys had tied me to a chair and accused me of murder, with barely any evidence! You were just not murdering me!” Gwen says.  
“She still saved your life.” Carmilla comments from behind them, “I was going to kill you.”  
“I wasn’t asking you, dead girl.” Gwen says.  
“See, even Carmilla agrees, totally saved your life.” Danny says with a smirk, “So we’re even.”  
“Fine! We’re even.” Gwen concedes and then smiles at Danny. She gives her a small shove. Danny shoves her back and they get into another shoving match.  
“You may be even with Fluffy over there, but you still owe me fifty bucks Clifford.” Carmilla says to her.  
Danny frowns and stops shoving Gwen, “What? No way! We both killed the thing.”  
“Did you strike the final blow?” Carmilla asks, “I don’t think so. That means you owe me fifty bucks.”  
“Kill stealer.” Danny says.  
“I was saving everyone lives, not trying to win fifty bucks.” Carmilla replies indignantly.  
“You were trying to win fifty bucks weren’t you?” LaFontaine asks and Carmilla smirks at them.  
“I will not dignify that with a response.” Carmilla replies.  
“That’s a yes.” Laura says which gets a glare from Carmilla. Laura just laughs.  
“So what are you buying us for dinner Xena?” Carmilla asks.  
“I don’t know, what do people want?” Danny asks.  
“A hamburger, a really big hamburger.” Kirsch says.  
“I’m in the mood for steak.” Gwen says.  
“Salad is fine with me.” Perry says.  
“I could go for some curly fries.” LaFontaine says.  
“Mmm, a milkshake sounds good right about now.” Laura says patting her stomach, “Oh and cookies! And brownies!”  
“You’re going to make yourself sick aren’t you?” Carmilla asks.  
“Maybe.” Laura replies with a smile.   
“Alright fine you guys, I’ll just buy everyone dinner. Then we’re even.” Danny says pointing at Carmilla.  
“Fine by me.” Carmilla says and wraps her arm around Laura’s shoulders. Laura leans into Carmilla and they walk like that.  
Kirsch is looking at himself in his phone and frowns, “Do you think my face is going to bruise?”  
“It might be an improvement.” Danny says and Kirsch scowls at her, she then turns to Gwen, “So, are you going to write a song about this?”  
Gwen shrugs and nods, “Probably. I’m going to have work flamethrower in their somewhere. \” She smirks at LaFontaine who smirks back, and then asks, “Does anyone know what rhymes with xenomorph?”  
Perry asks turning to LaFontaine, “So, a flamethrower, huh?”  
“I thought it was appropriate and it worked didn’t it?” LaFontaine replies, “At least I had a plan to put out the fire, right?”  
“It certainly was…spectacular.” Perry says.  
Laura looks to Carmilla who seems to be lost in thought. She nudges her and asks, “What’re you thinking about?”  
Carmilla looks down at her and smiles, “Just how nice this is right now.”  
Laura smiles back at her, “It is really nice.” She pecks her on the cheek, “Oh, you’re such a softie.”  
Carmilla rolls her eyes and then gets a seductive look in her eyes, “You won’t think I’m so soft after what we do tonight.” Carmilla then whispers something in Laura’s ear and Laura gasps, a shudder of anticipation runs through her.  
“What are you two yammering on about over there?” LaFontaine shouts back at them.  
“Na…Nothing.” Laura stammers out and Carmilla laughs.  
“Hey, after we grab food, want to watch a movie?” LaFontaine asks.  
“Sure, what were you thinking?” Laura asks.  
“Alien?” LaFontaine says and they all groan as LaFontaine laughs.  
And then the video cuts out as Laura’s phone dies.

End of video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it folks. Hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for all the wonderful feedback.   
> There will be a short epilogue after this chapter. 
> 
> Follow me on twitter if you want: TheSnarkyDruid


	35. Epilogue

5/16/15

The camera flicks on and Laura is seen sitting at her desk, a partially packed bag on her bed, and a smile on her face. Carmilla’s side is mostly empty. Her hair is mess, her clothes slightly rumpled, as well as her bed behind her. Carmilla is lying across her own bed reading, a smug, satisfied smile on her face.  
Laura stretches and then says, “Hello everyone! Sorry that it’s been so long since I’ve posted a video. It’s been…” She looks at the calendar, “Egads! It’s been over two months! I can’t believe how time has flown. I guess I just got wrapped up in well…”  
“Living life.” Carmilla comments from behind her.  
Laura chuckles a bit and nods, “I was going to say not having to face down some demonic presence, but sure that works too. Things have been rather uneventful since we defeated the Queen.”  
“Uneventful?” Carmilla asks, lowering her book and raising an eyebrow.  
“Well, we haven’t had a months long fight against monsters now have we?” Laura says as she swivels her chair around to face Carmilla.  
“True, but I wouldn’t call our last few months uneventful.” Carmilla says, “I had to rescue you at least twice from something. That’s not uneventful.”  
“They were minor rescues. I had it handled…mostly.” Laura says.  
Carmilla smirks, “I’m sure you did, Cupcake.”  
Laura thinks for a moment and then adds, “But thanks for being there for me anyway.”  
Carmilla’s smirk turns into a genuine smile and she adds, “Anytime.”  
Laura swivels back towards the computer and continues, “So life here hasn’t been really uneventful, but as life at Silas goes, it’s been calm. The Dean has taken a leave of absence to recuperate. Although he should be back next semester. All the students who were controlled seem to be recovering just fine, with a few having violent episodes here and there, but nothing too major. The Library itself is fine too. I went in a few days after our battle and it looked like nothing had happened there. Although I did get a few dirty looks from the librarians.”  
“Figures.” Carmilla mutters.  
“LaFontaine and Perry and being their normal practically married selves. And LaF has only caused the fire alarm to go off three times this past month, so I think that's an improvement. Danny and Gwen are being coupley, but being so slow about it. I swear to god, Danny is the most cautious person I've ever met when it comes to a relationship."  
“I’m rather grateful about that.” Carmilla comments with a mischievous grin and Laura just rolls her eyes.  
“I have no idea what the rest of the Dean’s and Phil’s organization is up to, whether they’re withdrawing from the school or not. I heard mention that campus security might be upped next semester, but that’s the only thing. As always, they’re keeping everyone in the dark. We didn’t even get a thank you.” Laura says a little bitterly.  
“What did you expect?” Carmilla asks.  
Laura frowns, “Well I expected a little recognition. We saved the school…again. And they know about it! A simple thank you would have been nice. But no, we get pushed aside as always and Phil, I heard, is getting a medal.”  
Carmilla scowls now, “That little weasel is getting a medal? For what? Not stopping any of the murders? Getting himself captured by a bunch of college students? Getting possessed by a demonic bug? Being continually incompetent throughout his entire stay here?”  
“I heard it was for performing above and beyond the call of duty or whatever.” Laura says.  
“Bullshit.” Carmilla snaps, “The only thing Phil is above and beyond is an idiot.”  
Laura laughs and shrugs, “It is what it is. I mean sure, a medal would have been nice, but I would have taken just a thank you or recognition that we did anything.”  
Carmilla frowns, “Yeah, but that would be giving us credit and they can’t do that. They can’t let the rest of their organization know that we succeeded where they failed. So let them hide behind their lies and false accolades. We don’t need them. We know what we did.”  
“That’s all that matters right.” Laura says and gets up from the chair and snuggles close to Carmilla, “Just you and me.”  
Carmilla wraps her arm around Laura and rests her head on top of Laura’s, a content look on her face, “Just you and me, Creampuff."

 

Next semester, first day back.

8/24/15

 

Carmilla enters a pitch black room in the wee hours of Monday morning, slinking into the room as quietly as possible. Her dark clothes and hair meld perfectly with the shadows as she prowls towards Laura’s side of the room, moving softly and slowly. There is a smile on her lips as she thinks of sliding into bed with her lover.  
They had spent the last week apart as Laura had wanted some quality time with her father before heading back to school. And although Carmilla had missed Laura fiercely every night they were apart, she understood and had kept her distance. But finally they were back together and Carmilla could curl into Laura’s warm side, listening to her soft, contented sounds as she slept.  
As Carmilla approaches Laura’s bed she realizes something feels off. She pauses in her approach, listening for something. She doesn’t hear anything. Which is precisely the problem. There is no contented sighing, no quiet slow breathing, no shifting and creaking of the bed as Laura moves. Not even a heartbeat.  
Carmilla rushes forward towards the bed, now afraid. When she gets there she finds the bed to be empty. Not just empty though. The bed isn’t even made. There are no blankets, sheets, or yellow pillow adorning it. Carmilla stares at the empty bed completely confused for a moment, blinking twice before she manages to reach out and touch the bed. She’s hesitant as if she expects it to burn to touch it, but of course it doesn’t. It’s just a bed. But an empty bed, with no sign that Laura had ever been there.  
A thought then occurs to Carmilla and she begins to look around the room. Her heart sinks as she goes through the wardrobe, the dresser, and even worse, the fridge. Nothing, she finds nothing. There are no bags, no clothes, no books, no odds and ends, and no cookies or grape soda. She grows more desperate with each passing minute, but finds no indication that Laura had ever been in this room. After a few more minutes of searching she eventually gives up and flops down onto Laura’s empty bed as she puts her head in her hands.  
“Think, think, think.” Carmilla says to herself and then sits up and pulls out her phone. She sends a quick text.  
C: Where are you?  
C: Are you alright?  
There is no response and Carmilla stares at her phone for a good five minutes before she sends out another text.  
C: Cupcake?  
C: Laura?  
C: Laura, I’m getting really worried.  
There is still no response and Carmilla waits only a few minutes more before she decides to call her. The phone rings once before there is a clicking noise, three tones, and then a robotic female voice answers with, “The number you have called has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try your call again.”  
Carmilla feels her heart plummet into her stomach, a sense of dread washing over her. She looks at the number she dialed to make sure it’s right and even though it is, she calls again. She gets the same message. After four more desperate attempts, she puts her phone away and puts her head back into her hands trying to think.  
For a moment she wonders if she’s in the right room, although that doesn't explain why Laura’s phone isn't working. At least if she was in the wrong room that would explain half her problem and perhaps if Laura was in right one she could explain to her why her phone wasn't working. Carmilla gets up and heads to the door. She opens it up to go and check the number, when a note wedged in between the door and the frame flutters out and spirals down to the floor.  
Carmilla bends over it confused and then hopeful, thinking maybe Laura has left her some kind of explanation as to what is going on. But upon looking at the note she finds an official school seal stamped on it and large, bold print.  
She quickly begins to read the note:

In accordance with the new Dean, the new Supernatural Registration Act, and the new Supernatural Code of Conduct implemented as of August 15th, 2015, the newly formed Council of Human Rights and Justice calls the vampire Carmilla Karnstein before the Council in order to defend her actions against the human population of this campus. The hearing is set on September 8th, 2015 at 8:00 a.m. Failure to appear will be considered an act of hostility and will result in immediate expulsion and imprisonment.  
Have a wonderful semester. 

Sincerely,  
The Council for Human Rights and Justice and the Dean of Silas University

Carmilla blinks a few times after reading the note and then shakes her head, “What the fuck?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so that really is end for this fic. As you can probably tell from the open ended ending, I will be writing another story continuing this one. I hadn't really planned on continuing this fic, but I had so much fun writing it, that I decided to keep going. As for the continuation, it will be set in the following fall semester after Carmilla and Laura return from summer break. It'll be a little different than this last one. I don't know when I'll be able to start posting it as I have yet to really start writing it, but I have ideas. I'll probably start posting it in the next few weeks or so. Its the end of the semester, so finals, graduation and whatnot are coming up, so I may be a bit delayed.
> 
> But anyway, thank you again for all the wonderful comments! I am super excited for season 2 of the show to be coming out soon. Have a wonderful day everyone!


End file.
